Olympos For Beginners
by Smiling Eyes
Summary: The story of Ariadne, the Cretan princess who fled with Theseus after his defeat of the Minotaur, only to find herself dumped at the island of Naxos. Ariadne thought it was all over then, but no, it was just the beginning of her new life and love
1. Naxos

**Olympos for beginners**

_Ariadne, leaves her home island Crete to follow her beloved Theseus to Athens – but nothing turns out the way she expected. _

**Naxos**

After three days at sea the motion-sickness had faded and she didn't feel like throwing up when seeing the horizon move or feeling the ship heave anymore. Nevertheless it was still bliss when the ship finally landed; on the shore of the rocky island Naxos. When the keel kissed the sand with a rasping sound Ariadne felt she had to leave the ship, to feel firm ground beneath her feet, if only for an hour or so.

She had left Crete head over heels and with very few belongings, as a refuge she had run away with the Athenians. This hasty event was caused by her helping their leader, the handsome prince Theseus to defeat the terrible Minotaur in the labyrinth, and to – with the help of a silk-thread – getting him out from there.

Her actions had made Ariadne into a traitor to her own land. She betrayed her land for love, and hadn't she followed Theseus when he and his friends took off in the depth of the dark, moonless night; she would have faced a certain harsh judgement and imprisonment. The choice had seemed so easy back then: to follow her beloved across the sea to the far-away land of Athens.

Today Ariadne was not so certain. Theseus had showed her little attention since they left Crete and the Athenian youths had been – if not outright hostile – yet cold and haughty, never making her feel like she was a part of the group. To them she had remained "the Cretan lass", the foreigner who didn't share their in-jokes or knew the games they had been playing with dices and markers to spend their time aboard.

However, since she had no maid to inform of her doings Ariadne had told two of the Athenian girls that she was going off the ship for a while.  
" Need to smell the forest for a while", she had said, put on her walking shoes and taken a shawl with her. Chrysandra, the girl who shared cabin with Ariadne and two other girls, simply looked up and nodded. The petite Athenian with dark, curly hair and big black, owl-like eyes had been the only one who had shown a bit of friendliness, and Ariadne hoped that Chrysandra would notice Theseus when he and his trekkers were back on board again.

" I'm not going far", Ariadne mumbled to herself, while crossing the cobblestone beach and entering the bushes beyond. Yet soon she became mesmerized by the sound of flowing water. A creek or a stream nearby! Fresh water! Thank the gods! Ariadne felt the thirst in her mouth, the stale, foul water back on the ship was something she very reluctantly had drunk, and now she longed for the clean taste of pristine and cold water from a sparkling stream.

Ariadne followed the beckoning sound up a hardly visible path, through thickets of torn that tore at her arms and scratched her chin. She cursed the pain but didn't turn back. And soon she became rewarded with the most beautiful sight. A tiny waterfall streaming down in a dark pond surrounded by white waterlilies and pink wild roses like little babies fists.

The place smelt of enchantment, almost forbidden, but Ariadne hardly cared. She fell down on her knees, cupped her hands and drank greedily from the water in the pound. Then she splashed more of it over her hot face, wished she had time to take a bath, maybe washing her hair. But she did not know when Theseus and his men would return to the ship and she remembered him saying that the landing on Naxos would not be a long one. They wouldn't stay the night, since they didn't trust the people living on far side of the island.

" I have to go back" Ariadne reasoned. "But first I'll sit down for just a minute or two and rest." A nearby tree trunk looked very comfortable and Ariadne seated herself by it, closing her eyes. Soon she began to feel strange. Tired and odd, heavy in her limbs. The sound of streaming water and buzzing insects became more prominent, dulling her senses and the glittering sunlight on the water as well as the movements in the pattern of shadows and light on the ground began to have a hypnotizing effect.

The sound – the buzzing bumblebees and flies, it sounded almost like voices, talking to her.  
_Ariadne, Ariadne, lady of the Thread… you who betrayed your homeland. _And Theseus' voice _Come with us! I'll take you to Athens, make you my queen! _Had he ever said that really? Had he ever said that he loved her? Why was he…? _Ariadne, Ariadne, _screaming voices_ The Minotaur is dead! The Athenian thug killed it! Get them! Get the Athenians, kill them all! No one must know…_

_Betrayal Betrayal Betrayal_ buzz buzz buzz _Come to Athens… to Athens… to Athens… to Athens…_ buzz buzz buzz buzz…

Ariadne woke up with a shudder, disoriented, confused! Looking around, she recognized the pond and the waterfall. She also noted how light had changed, it fell differently, slanted, and with an orange evening tint to it. She had slept! How long had she slept?

The Ship! She must go back!

Quickly she rose and not looking back she started into the forest, towards the shore. Twice she was mistaken and had to turn back, but at the third try she reached the beach and the ocean. But – where was the ship? Where were Theseus and the others? Was it even the right beach? Ariadne began to look around, yes, there they were, the landmarks she had spotted when coming ashore. The whitened tree-trunk, the funny-looking rock – almost like a man with a big nose. And the bent fig tree. But no ship!

" Theseus!" Ariadne called out. "Theseus!" although she knew it was pointless. At the same time she couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that he was gone, he and all his Athenians. That he had left her, his saviour, stranded on a strange island far away from home. Left her and taken off while she was ashore and asleep.

"Theseus! Theseus!" Perhaps they had just relocated the ship. Found a better place to land it. Ariadne began to run aimlessly down the beach, and soon she found herself by the large rock. Without thinking she climbed it, stumbling once and hitting her knee, white flashes of pain dancing before her eyes.

Then she saw it – the ship. It had set sail and was heading out, away from the island of Naxos. It was leaving her! Theseus was leaving her behind, he had never loved her!

"Theseus! Theseus! Theseus!" Ariadne kept on screaming and screaming although she knew it was no point anymore, he couldn't hear her, and even if he had he wouldn't turn back. He had left her behind on purpose. Not bothering with what happened to her. Now he was going back to his beloved Athens on the ship with black sails.

" Curse you!" Ariadne mumbled, her voice hoarse from screaming. "May you return to death! May you never see you father again, the king you talked so proudly and longingly about!" Then she began to cry. With tears streaming down her face and broken voice she climbed down from the rock and sat herself with the stone as a seat, just as she had sat herself against the tree by the enchanted pond. Wet, soft waves lapped at her sandaled feet almost like they were trying to comfort her, and the sun was setting behind dark hills, painting the skies in burning crimson.

Why had she fallen asleep?  
Why had he left her?  
Why had she helped him in the first hand?  
Why was life so unfair?  
What was she going to do now?


	2. The Wanderer

**The wanderer**

He came here ever so often. The eastern side of Naxos was a tranquil place, never any people here, never any trash on the beach, screaming crows or any other remnants of sloppy folks who had moved on without bothering with those who might come after.

Eastern Naxos was too barren, it had no fresh water save from a hidden well, unreachable for those who didn't know its magic secret, and it was windy and unwelcoming most of the time, with heavy breakers crashing the shore. Hard to land a ship, and why bother when the western side was so much more welcoming with its calm harbour and nice village life with every pleasantry a sailor could ever wish for.

It was exactly why the Wanderer came here. Because he had no need for pleasantries at the moment. He demanded peace and quiet. To be alone and think. He wanted to sit down and watch the star constellations and dine in solitude and then fall asleep to the sound of the sea and wake up to the rising sun. That was what he needed. The Wanderer was sick of people right now.

But the Wanderer found his favourite place occupied! Someone was already there, someone was asleep in the grassy little pit, curled up in foetal position with no other cower than a torn shawl which looked too thin and too expensive for outdoor use.

First the Wanderer became angered. Who had stolen his pit, his grass, his private place for meditation? Then he looked again. The sleeper was a young woman, hardly past her teens, and pretty if not outright beautiful. And the Wanderers special senses picked up sadness and fear, he saw that tears had stained those rosy cheeks not long ago and that the scratch wounds on her arms and lower left tight were quite new.

Poor little thing! The Wanderer's rage gave way to confusion. What was she doing here? Alone? With no visible means of travel? She was not a Transcender, she would need a ship or a horse or some other help to come here. Could she have gotten here from the western side of the island, the populated side? No, even that place was too far away, and what would be the reason for her to come here alone anyway? And why had she been crying so hard just before she fell asleep?

A lover? the Wanderer mused. A lover she was going to meet and who never showed up. That must have been it. Or? No, this place was far to desolate for lovers to meet, even if they were of the clandestine kind. The Wanderer sat down next to the girl, pondering.  
" When she wakes up she'll tell me", he said to himself. "I'm hungry, and I bet she'll be too; I better start preparing some food. It will be easier to talk for both of us with something to eat and to drink between us."

¤¤¤

Ariadne woke up to flickering orange light and the sound of crackling flames. Once again she felt disoriented. She had dreamt of Crete and the labyrinth and Theseus and this time it has been her running through the maze, trying to get out, hearing the howls and the thundering steps of the fearsome Minotaur behind her.

She blinked fast and the nightmare faded quickly, giving away to her most recent memories. Yet for some reason they felt less painful now. For some reason she felt safe immediately upon waking up.

Ariadne found herself facing a blazing camp-fire seemingly feeding upon nothing and with a strange tint to its flames. A man with broad shoulders was squatting beside the fire, preparing something that smelled good, and when the fumes reached her nostrils Ariadne felt her stomach rumble.

" Theseus?" Had he come back? Had he changed his mind about her after all, and decided to turn his ship and pick her up? Ariadne felt her mood rise.  
Then the man by the campfire turned, showing a face of a stranger. The man with long, dark hair surrounding a gorgeous, almost feminine face was not from the Athenian ship. He was a complete stranger.

" You're not Theseus?" She heard her stupid question fall off her lips before she got the chance to stop it.  
" You're awake?" The man's question was as stupid as hers and she started to giggle, blinking again to get the last sleep out of her system.  
" I'm not sure" Ariadne went on. "I have a certain impression I'm still dreaming. "

" Why?" The stranger's voice was fine-modulated and soft yet strong.  
" Because this is so weird! Your fire burns on nothing, I trust you even if I don't know you and you're more… well, more handsome than the rest. "  
" What rest?" She could see laughter in his velvet eyes.

" Well – the other guys. The other guys in my life, I mean. They're not here it seems. In this dream I mean. Am I still on the ship? "  
" If you call planet Earth a ship you are. A vessel sailing across the universe, far out at the end of the Milky way."

" I must be dreaming! No one talks as strange as you! "  
" I'm sorry!"  
" Oh, don't be! I like you, you make me forget…"

Ariadne stopped suddenly. No, this wasn't a dream. Far from it. This was real, she was out-cast, deserted on a strange island, abandoned by the man she loved and whom she had though up until earlier today, loved her back. Instead she was talking to this stranger who had set up camp right next to her, saying stupid things and embarrassing herself… She suddenly felt tears sting her eyes again.

" Here! Drink this!" The stranger held out a cup to her, filled with a dark liquid. She accepted, tasted it. Red wine not mixed with water but pure and strong. She drank it in spite of not really liking its taste.

" I bet you're hungry too, milady" the stranger went on. "I'll give you something to eat and then you'll have to tell me what exactly a beauty like you are doing out here in the middle of nowhere. Does that sound like a deal to you?"  
" It does", Ariadne answered weakly.

The stranger changed position so he ended up sitting right opposite her and held out a plate with a mixture of food on. There was meat, bread, cheese, ripe tomatoes and slices of cucumber, and Ariadne let hunger win over manner and started to stuff herself. The food was delicious, better than anything she had eaten before – ever. Even better than the food they had served on the golden plates of the palace of Knossos when there were parties held.

Ariadne blushed, when she realised how she was behaving, stopped eating and looked up at the man, who was sitting with his own plate in his hand, chewing on a piece of sliced meat. He was smiling at her.  
" I – I'm sorry… I was just so... hungry…"  
" Sorry for what? For liking my food? I take your gorging as a compliment, sweetie. "

" But I'm..." Ariadne cleared her troth: "Can we start this all over, I feel like such an idiot. I'm Ariadne. From Crete. I'm engaged to… I mean I was supposed to be engaged to – Theseus of Athens. But apparently" … Ariadne felt her voice turn little "apparently I'm not".

The man smiled and poured more wine into both of the cups, assuming that she wanted more of the red liquid, and oddly Ariadne felt she did. Gratefully she took the cup and took a large gulp from it.  
" I'm Dion", the man said. "I'm from everywhere and nowhere. A little bit of a stranger wherever I go. I'm engaged to life and what I see around me and what I find pleases me. And what raises my curiosity. Like lonely ladies on the beach. Now, tell me, sweet Ariadne, what you are doing here? "

" Drinking your wine," she sighed. Then she found herself telling this Dion her whole sad story, starting with falling in love with Theseus, the handsome Athenian prince at the first moment she had laid her eyes on him. He who had come to try to pet the Minotaur, to try his luck where so many other youths have failed.

Ariadne told Dion how she had helped Theseus to win by betraying Crete's best kept secret, the secret of the labyrinth, and how she had made the Athenian prince promising to take her with him in return for this deceit. At that time she had though he loved her back, but he had only taken the chance to first defeat the Minotaur and then getting laid while the boat sailed off to Athens. They had set sail and left in the middle of the night when the Cretans were still in shock over the death of their beast and thus not knowing neither that their princess had gone missing nor that the secret of the labyrinth was revealed, the hidden trap-doors opened.

" I was a virgin", she said, feeling her cheeks blush for what time in order she didn't know. "Now I am nothing. Spoilt, used, betrayed and thrown away like a broken toy. But I guess I deserve no better, this is a just punishment for traitresses such as I. "

But Dion leaned over and took her hand.  
" Stop blaming yourself. You became used all right. You were used, fooled and tricked into betrayal, but that's not your fault. You did it for love. And perhaps Theseus loved you back for a while, but he seems to me like yet another of the immature kind of macho brats I have already met too many of. "

" You know I prefer the company of women", Dion went on. "They are often more mature and thoughtful, thinking twice before running head over heels into stupidities. I mean, what's really the purpose with killing a beast in a labyrinth? To become a hero? Bah! Who has the need for heroes? Isn't it thinkers we need instead, people who use their brains instead of their brawns? But that so typical men! Sometimes I wish I was a woman instead. "

" But a woman can't…"  
" Don't say 'a woman can't' A woman can do everything a man can, if she sets her mind to it. Well perhaps not the heaviest muscle work, but there's always ways around that. You know, I have sisters who… Sorry, I talk too much."

" No, you don't, you're fascinating. And I guess it's your turn!" (Was it the wine that had made her so brave, Ariadne wondered while talking to the stranger Dion of Everywhere and Nowhere?)  
" My turn?" Dion raised one of his oddly refined eye-brows. (Almost like he plucks them, Ariadne couldn't help thinking. She had never heard of men who plucked their brows, although she knew some who really should have…)

" Yeah!" She finished her wine. "You know everything about me now, but I know only your name. "  
" Tomorrow" he said. "I'm too tired; I need to sleep a bit. But tomorrow I'll tell you about myself – I promise. "

¤¤¤

Later in the night, when Orion was setting behind the tree-tops, Ariadne had woken up again, this time by her bladder. She had almost feared that she would be alone again, that Dion and his fire and delicious food and wine had been nothing but a dream. But he was still around; snoring silently and he had spread a thick woollen blanket over her to protect her from the chill of the night.

Ariadne walked over and rounded a tree to do what she needed, and then she went back to her bed of grass again. The sky was slightly lighter in the east, heralding the day to come, and she looked again at this mysterious Dion who was sleeping so soundly next to her. Who was he really?


	3. Dionysos

_Thanks to __Aurora Spirit__A Bit__ and __all-the-world's-a-stage__ for feedback. And you won the bet, A Bit :-D_

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**Dionysos**

The Wanderer, who called himself Dion, woke with the sun, which he usually did – when he didn't have a hangover that was. And these, he had to admit, had been quite a few ocer the years before he learned to deal with the power of wine. Yesterday he had only drunk two or three cups, and then he had slept soundly, so now he felt rested and strengthened.

The Lady Ariadne was still asleep, auburn curls of hair covering her sweet face, and her breast was heaving gently. She had a pretty nose covered in freckles, little cherry lips and behind those lids sparkling emerald eyes were hidden. Still that was not what had attracted Dion last night. He was quite used to attractive girls. No, it was Ariadne's wits and zest that had fascinated him. She had gusto and humour, and Dion almost felt sorry for this Theseus for letting such a lady slip through his fingers.

" His loss my luck", Dion mumbled to himself and rose. He took off his tunic and after a moment's hesitation he removed his pants too. Ariadne would see him naked sooner or later anyway, he reckoned. Then he ran out into the breakers for a refreshing morning bath.

Ariadne was awake when he came ashore, and she blushed slightly and turned away when he didn't do anything to cover his privates.  
" Slept well?" Dion asked her.  
" Not so sure. It was cold and the ground was hard. I've never slept outdoors in my entire life. "  
" It's never too late to start" Dion said and squatted next to her, starting to dress.

" How odd", Ariadne said, looking at him trough the corner of her eyes.  
" What?"  
" You're dry! A moment ago you were glistening with sea-water and now you're all dry. "  
" Nothing odd with that, I don't like getting dressed when I'm wet."

" But how did you…?"  
" You're hungry?"  
" More curious about…" Ariadne started, but once again her stomach betrayed her. Dion opened up his sack again and offered her bread and cheese and some fruit she had never seen before, which tasted like stored sunlight.  
" Oranges", Dion answered her question. "They grove far away from here, but I'm thinking of planting some at home. My father says that they can thrive here as well."

" Your father? He's in gardening?" Ariadne asked, suddenly remembering that Dion had promised to tell about himself today.  
" No, he's a… well, an executive. My aunt Dee is the gardener of the family. She has these wonderful gardens which she runs together with her daughter who works part-time… Oh – there's our ride!" Dion interrupted himself.

Ariadne followed her companion's looks – and almost dropped her cheek on the ground. By the shore laid the most magnificent ship she had ever seen. It was way larger and more elegant than Theseus' trireme, or for that matter any of the vessels she had seen in the harbour of Knossos. That in spite of Crete being one of the world's most central trading places.

" That's the Crane", Dion answered her unuttered question.  
" It's yours?"  
" No, it belongs to one of my uncles, I'm only renting it for a while. To get myself across the sea to Anatolia. "  
" Anatolia?"  
" Have a place there. Come!"  
" But…"  
" You'd rather stay here? On this miserable shore? Well don't expect anyone else to come and rescue you", Dion smiled mockingly. "A shipwrecked seldom gets a second chance. "

Ariadne stood up obediently, one glance behind, but she had even fewer belongings now than she had carried when she left Crete. In fact the only things she owned were the clothes on her body and the sandals she carried in one hand while following Dion over the shore and up a gangplank to the wonderful ship.

A tall, very handsome man with tanned skin and a row of snow-white teeth saluted Dion when entering the ship.  
" My Lord, the captain's cabin has been prepared for you and the Lady. The maidens are preparing her a bath and there are new clothes for her waiting just as commanded. You wish to take the steering wheel today or do you have other plans?"  
" I need to talk to this Lady", Dion replied. "You take the wheel, Yisao! We will have lunch at noon, and have my writing tools brought me. And a pair of binoculars."

There were so many questions buzzing in the head of Ariadne when she followed Dion to the Captain's cabin, that she didn't know where to start asking. Steering wheel? Bino – whatsitsname? Dion had commanded? How? Instead of asking she looked back one more time at the island of Naxos. This was the final goodbye to Theseus, she knew it! If he changed his mind and came back, she would be gone. Gone with this mysterious Dion and his magic ship to this place Anatolia, which she knew nothing about.

The ship named The Crane anchored up fast, and soon they were at sea, riding a pleasant breeze eastbound. The waves were glittering in the soft morning sun, the gulls were dancing around the ship and Ariadne even thought she saw dolphins for a short moment. The bringers of luck to sea-farers. And oddly enough she didn't feel sea-sick at all.

¤¤¤

Dion had escorted Ariadne to the Captain's Cabin and there he left her in the skilled hands of a trio of sweet girls about her own age, who had taken care of her bathing. They were all very beautiful, each in her own way, from the buxom Mirba with almost tar-black skin and funny curly hair decorated with pearls and clam-shells, over the dark-haired, slim and olive skinned Lori with her solemn face and crimson lips to the blond Vida with round, sea-blue eyes filled with laughter and an agile athlete's body.

First Ariadne had felt humble in their presence, she could hardly believe that these godlike beings would accept to function as her maidens, if only for the slightest while, but the trio had welcomed her with open arms, helped her with washing her hair and back. After the bath Mirba had given her a wonderful massage while Lori had taken care of her manicure and Vida had threatened her feet.

All the time they had tricked Ariadne into talking, into telling them her story, so when she was done and set out to meet Dion again, she weren't any wiser than when she had entered the cabin. Except for the fact that Dion seemed to keep a complete spa on board his ship. Or his wealthy uncle's ship, whoever he now was.

Dion met her with open arms and a shining smile:  
" My sweet Ariadne, you look if possibly even more beautiful than before! Come here!"

He had given her a strong hug and she had felt really strange in his presence. Not uncomfortable but… There had been something else. Something with his spicy and vanilla-like smell and the strong charisma radiating from his lithe body. For the first time Ariadne really looked at Dion. Took in his long, dark hair that flew in the wind and brushed at his high cheek bones, well-chiselled nose and chin and full lips. And those dark eyes that seemed to be drinking in her presence as well as everything around them, not missing a thing. In them she saw intelligence, kindness, humor and curiosity. And a lust for life equalling nothing she had beheld before. And something hard to name avoke somewhere inside her...

He had taken her chin in his hand, bowing down, wanting to steal a kiss. But Ariadne had hesitated:  
" Dion! I'm really grateful to you for receiving me as a guest on board here, it's a magnificent ship and your maids were wonderful to me, but I have questions to ask. I think you owe me…"  
" Explanations. I know. Come, let's sit down in the shadow at the portside deck. You will get all your explanations honey. "

¤¤¤

" My name is really Dionysos", her host had begun. "I'm one of the gods, although I haven't really found my area of godhood yet. I'm good at arranging parties, and I'm good at getting people to open up and talk to me. But sometimes my parties tend to get a bit wild and those talking to me seem to confess a bit too much and end up in tears and depression. "  
" Oh…" was the only thing Ariadne could utter.

" My father, Zeus, says I have to learn. To practise things. To live around mortals to learn to work with them. Every god or goddess who wants to be something more than a generic clerk at Olympos has to do that. And since I don't intend to sit and rotten at that mountaintop all my immortal life, I'm down here learning."  
" But Olympos… The home of the gods… I thought that place was wonderful."  
" It sure is. In moderate doses. See, I'm too much of an adventurer to enjoy it behind a desk."

Ariadne bit her lips when the words of Dionysos began to sink inside of her. A god! She had met a god! A god who had taken her with him and almost tried to kiss her. That was – nearly scary. What did happen to those ladies who dated gods? Ariadne had vague memories of stories about girlfriends to Apollo who had ended up as trees. That was nothing she wanted. Not at all!

" So now what? she asked her rescuer. You're taking me to Anatolia? What for? To become your mistress?"  
" I'm not sure."  
" What do you mean? You tried to kiss me down at the main deck, have you changed your mind? Are you too going to sail away from me?"

" Ari, we sure need to work on your self-confidence! I'll not sail away from you! I'm taking you to Anatolia, my Earthly home, and there I intend to spend time with you, get to know you well. I think you can teach me a lot about human nature. And if that is your desire I'll install you in a villa and make sure your every need is taken care of wherever I'm around or gone. "

" But what can I possibly teach – a god?"  
" The mortal ways. Of thinking, reasoning, feeling, loving… And perhaps I could use you as proof too. "  
" Proof? For what."  
" I actually think that mortals and gods are more alike each other than most of my kind like to think. After all, we come from the same Gaia. We're the same species. "

" But you are – immortal… Doesn't that…?"  
" My mother was mortal. She – she died when I was born. Birthing a god was too distressing for her body. Too much energies involved. My father felt so guilty about it, he felt that he had killed her, so he granted me something special in return. Something I might collect one day…" Dionysos lost himself in thoughts and Ariadne looked into his kind, dark eyes. He looked almost sad and she felt like comforting him. Before she knew it she had taken his hand, caressing it gently.

" I wish I had known her", he whispered. "Dad said she was so gentle."  
" But your dad – Lord Zeus… He's married. To Hera of the Golden Throne. With all due respect, why did he sleep around?"  
" He wanted to get away from his responsibilities for a while. His work is demanding. Then I guess he and Hera… Working together – seeing each other 24/7 – sometimes you just need a break."  
" 24/7! That's sailors slang. I didn't know gods used that kind of language."

" I pick up a lot. And wait till you hear my uncle Poseidon swear. If I should run this ship on ground, which Faithes forbid, then you would hear him curse so the earth shakes. My half-brother, Hephaestus of the Great Forge, he can be really foul-mouthed too when one of his inventions does not work the way he wants it to. Don't be scared when you meet him, he's actually one of the nicest persons there is."  
" You want me to meet – Hephaestus? The great Blacksmith. "  
" Sure, you'll get to meet them all. All of my crazy family. In time. "

Ariadne blushed. She could hardly believe her ears. She was to meet the gods! She was actually sitting next to a god, riding his strange boat. Or perhaps this was a dream too. Perhaps she was actually still on board the ship of Theseus, dreaming all this.

No! She could tell a dream from reality. And that was not about pinching her arm, that was about – well, knowing. She knew she was sitting next to this handsome Dionysos, holding his hand. And that she was quite pleased with it.

" Now, can I have that kiss? Or does my Lady have more questions?"  
" I think they can wait, Ariadne mumbled, suddenly so aware of his masculine presence."


	4. Divine Passion

_I've been busy - two chapters at a time! Enjoy!_

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**Divine Passion**

It started with a kiss. Soft and gentle. Dionysos' tongue had tasted of promises to come. And he had left it there – for a while. Instead he had made sure lunch had arrived, fruit and bread and dried meet – and more of that mellow wine.

After lunch Dionysos had shown Ariadne the steering wheel. It really was a wheel, a novelty even for a girl from a nation of sea-farers. A large, spiked wheel to turn the great steering oar.  
" My uncle Poseidon's invention", Dionysos have told. "Makes it easier to navigate the boat. "  
" How comes no mortal ships carry this invention?" she asked.  
" That you'll have to ask him, he'll probably give you a peculiar reason, he's full of them, the Lord of the sea."  
"You want to try the wheel, steer the ship?"  
" Can I?"  
" Sure!"

It had been a breathtaking experience for Ariadne to handle the big ship, to feel its huge form obey her movements. With the wind in her hair she rode against the waves, feeling salty sea splash her face and kiss her lips when it sprayed the deck. Dion had sat on the rail with a smile upon is face, sometimes swaying to and from in a way that looked quite daring. Ariadne almost feared he would fall over board, then she realised that it wouldn't matter to a god. He would probably just jump back to her again.

When the sun had set behind them hours later they were already back on main deck again, talking about everything and nothing. It felt like they had know each other for years and years, like this day on the ship was just one in an endless row of similar ones.

They had dined beneath the deck with the rest of the crew, a happy group. Save for the maidens and the fair-teethed steward Yisao there had been Boulos, the captain, a large man with black beard and weathered face, a bronze-skinned Aigypto pilot named Hanouk-Re, the fat chef Pylades and his helper, a likewise fat woman named Hali. And finally there had been Silenos, an ugly old man who's reason for being aboard Ariadne hadn't really grasped. These jolly sailors treated the god Dionysos like an equal and Ariadne like a welcomed rookie. She felt more partaking than she had ever done on the Athenian ship.

Yet the real bliss came with the night. Dionysos had pointed out the Elms fire around the pole when escorting her to his chamber, then he had kissed her once more on the moonlit deck. This time he hadn't been so careful. Tender, yes, but with a hot undercurrent of passions to come.

Inside the cabin his kisses had been more eager, more demanding, and Ariadne had felt her responses correspond to that desire, to each burning touch of his. The blood had rushed, hummed in her ears when she kissed back, explored his lips and teeth with her tongue.

Dionysos had let go of her mouth to taste her neck instead, his hands travelling upwards, beneath the top of her dress. In return Ariadne had thrown modesty over board, sending it to sink beneath those wine-dark waves outside. Without hesitating a second she had gone on to explore his soft skin with her hands and lips instead.

This mate wasn't hairy and scarred like Theseus had been, his skin was smooth, soft and without any pimple or boil. On top of that he was hard, more fit than he had appeared, clad in those loose-fitting cover-all clothes he seemed to fancy. Those clothes that suddenly fell off him, undesired and discarded into a bundle on the wooden floor. Revealing him. All of him! All of his divine beauty!

All of Dionysos!

Down to the very body part where all his desires united and became a breathtaking natural force with just one aim. Her.

Ariadne had hesitated but a second, gasping slightly, then she let more primal desires take command. Finding herself naked too, without really knowing how it had happened, she had met her lover in a standing position, her arms around his neck, her lips at his torso, her heavy breaths synchronising with his heavy trusts, his eager explorations inside of her.

She hadn't thought herself ready, yet she came together with him. Swept away on waves of desire across an imagined starlit sky she had moaned his name, or parts of it, pulling at his long hair to the rhythm of his love-making.

Spent they had sunken to the floor, sitting cuddled together, covered in sweat and fluids of desire, breathtaken like after a run and listening to the sound of their hearts slowing down.

" You liked it?"  
" You need to ask? "  
" Guess not. Milady, a man likes to hear these words nevertheless. "  
" So I'll give them to you, Dion. I liked it. A lot. I treassured. Every second of it!"

He rose, lifted her up in his arms, surprised she noted that it seemed to take no effort at all. As if she was light as a feather. Carefully he placed her on top of a generous four-poster bed. The soft sheets were uncovered, waiting. As was she. Again.

This time he had taken her slower, more gentle and throughout. Using his hands, his fingertips as well to help her reach higher peaks. Kissing her closed eye-lids, nabbing at the tip of her nose with tender teeth. Dionysos knew places Ariadne hadn't been aware of herself. Buttons for bliss, zones of sensitiveness. Making it last longer, the leaps higher…

The third time Dionysos had entered from behind, using his fingers as well, adding icing on the cake with the same rhythmic movements. Ariadne felt herself melt, loose herself in the whirlpool of passion, dragged under, under… Was she ever aware of how long they had been making love like this, it had felt like centuries, eons, outside measurable time.

Then sleep had sneaked up on them, one last shivering flicker of awareness before they let the deep, deep streams of dreams carrying them away together.

¤¤¤

When Ariadne woke up something had felt different. It wasn't the fact that Dionysos was already up, humming slightly to himself while shaving, naked save for a towel around the neck. Neither was it the fact that she was naked as well, and with a strange sense of modesty trying to hide herself beneath the sheets and blankets.

It was something with the sun and the sea, with how the waves heaved and then fell. Now Ariadne realised that the sun was shining right trough the round port window, rays bouncing off the brass items that littered Dionysos' cluttered desk across from the bed. Wrong angle!

The boat had changed direction during the night, it was going north instead of south-east, and with an almost unbelievable speed. Why? Where were they going, and why the rush?

" Dion?"  
" Good morning sweetie! Slept well?"  
" Ah – yes! Are we…? We are not heading for Anatolia anymore, right?"  
" Correct, Ari. We're going home. "

" Home? But I thought your home was in Anatolia, Dion."  
" That it is. One of them are there. But I'm talking about my Grand Home. The vista of my family. The home of the gods. Olympos. "  
" Olympos? Then… what about me? Am I…?"

" You're coming with me", Dionysos stated as a matter of fact. "I was planning to take you to Anatolia that is true, but tonight I changed my mind about that. After that amazing lovemaking I decided I cannot be without you again. Not ever. So I'm taking you with me. "  
" But I can't go there, can I? Not there, among the gods, right?"  
" Yes you can, Ari. Remember what I told you about Zeus, my father. And my mother. And the favour my father owes me. I'm going to cash that one in now. "


	5. Olympos

**Olympos**

THIS must be a dream at least. She became certain of that, when the ship suddenly seemed to take off in the air. Yet sailing the water – a way of water traversing the sky! Up high where the blue of the sky faded into black and stars became visible. Two amazing rainbows spanned the sky, larger and more brilliant than Ariadne had ever seen them before and the highway of water extended beyond those.

She was standing on deck holding on to her lover and staring with excitement at the amazing view, feeling vertigo as she looked down to the disappearing lands underneath. She saw the mainland Hellas below, the islands and Crete in the south and faraway snow-capped mountains in the east. The world was larger than she had ever guessed. Much larger.

But what probably surprised Ariadne most was the ship crew's behaviour. They seemed totally unimpressed by their breathtaking surroundings, like this was just another well known route. Like they had been doing this thousands of times before. Now Ariadne had understood that they were immortals too. Minor deities, almost as far from King Zeus as any mortal down below.

" I thought we were going to Olympos, the mountaintop", she turned to Dionysos.  
" We are, this is the most convenient way", the god answered with a smile. 'Poseidon's Shortcut', the one the sea god uses when travelling from his underwater palace to the Court of Lord Zeus. "

Ariadne was lost for words, this was more than she would ever have imagined. She knew that the gods were up to amazing things, that they had means that went beyond mere mortals understanding, but seeing it for real was an entirely different thing. She remembered tales from her childhood. Stories about the gods of Olympos and their quests and adventures. Yet when the ship sailed beneath the spans of these huge rainbows she became awestruck. Ariadne knew that this was more than any Cretan storyteller could conjure up.

Dionysos handed her a long brass tube, telling her to look at one end.  
" Huh?"  
" It's a spy-glass. An invention of my brother Hephaestos. Try it!"

Ariadne obeyed, gazing down at the land below, and was rewarded with an awesome close up. She peered at the rainbows, but they were too far away to make any difference, and then she checked on the boat and the crew, spying on Silenios and Mirba involved in private antics and after that she looked a bit more at the astounding sights around them.  
" It's marvellous! Everything is! she said and handed the spy-glass back to Dion. Are we far from Olympos?"

" Not at all! There it is, honey. Your new home." Dionysos rose his right arm, pointing ahead and slightly westward. Then she saw it, like suspended in mid-air, a snow-capped mountain top, bathing in the brilliance of the late afternoon sun. Palaces of the white marble and of gold, lakes, waterfalls, gardens in lush greenery and an abundance of colours. That was where this strange way of water was heading, connecting into one of these calm ponds which reflected the palace in front of it.

" Is that the home of Lord Zeus?" Ariadne asked.  
" Nope, Poseidon. His Olympic villa. I'm returning The Crane. Then we are going to say hello to papa. "  
" I'm nervous", she confessed.  
" Don't be. Papa's going to love you! And so will a lot of the others, even Hera, I'm sure. She'll love your humour and quick tongue."

Ariadne wasn't so sure about the Queen of the Gods, she had heard that Hera was haughty and harsh, but she trusted Dionysos even if she still felt that stirring in the stomach upon the coming encounters. Breathing in, trying to calm her nerves, she squeezed the hand of her lover while the ship slowly sailed ashore against a green marble quay decorated with sea-shells and statues of mermaids in front of that magnificent palace. Poseidon's villa! The coral coloured building made the Palace of Knossos looking like a shack in disrepair.

The Crane crew had disembarked upon a square laid with stones that shone like they were of gold, yet they were of a sturdier material than the soft, yellow metal.  
" Electrum", Dion had answered her question.

So followed quick good byes, the crew stayed on board, only the trio Mirba, Vida and Lori and old Silenios followed Dionysos and Ariadne. They walked the broad, tree lined avenue that went from Poseidon's villa and uphill to a main square where a big fountain was flushing water streams high up in the air. Stars seemed to dance on top of the streams.  
" Estelli", Dionysos called these. "Beings of condensed light. They are born where sunlight hits water. A bit simple but easy to pet. You can have them dance around you if you like. Creating amazing effects. I'll show you later. "

Ahead of them laid a town-like congregation of nice, well kept houses and on their left hand streamed a large river. Across it ran a glittering bridge which looked like it was defying gravity and was way too thin to walk on. Regardless of that a great chariot drawn by white horses was just crossing it. At the helm stood a giant of a man with a red-crested warrior's helmet.

- Oh no, Ares! Dionysos exclaimed. Hurry, I'm not really in the mood for talking with him right now. The god took Ariadne under her arm and steered her to the right instead, up to another tree-lined avenue, even broader than the one they had just left. Ariadne cast an eye over her shoulder, stealing a quick glance at the War God. There was something brutal radiating from him, merciless and almost sadistic, and Ariadne understood well that the kind Dionysos didn't want to spend more time than necessary in the company of his half-brother.

The new road led up to another palace, even grander and more magnificent than the one that belonged to the Sea God. This was the home of Lord Zeus and his Lady Hera. And in spite of its size and grandeur it managed to radiate a welcoming feeling of homelikeness. Like she and Dionysos were expected and would be well received. This feeling somewhat dulled the hard edges on the knot in Ariadne's stomach.

Yet she was well aware of the powers and majesty of Zeus and she was not really sure how to behave in front of him. What if she did some terrible breach of protocol – without even being aware of it. She was glad that Silenius as well as Mirba, Vida and Lori seemed to be part of the escort. Their reliable presence made Ariadne feel quite a bit more comfortable.

¤¤¤

After another bath and change of clothes Ariadne had expected to be brought to a throne-room, something ten times as magnificent as the reception hall of Minos of Crete. But a page with skin like ebony had walked Dionysos and her across a courtyard with a pretty garden with roses and small statues, and up the stairs in the wing on the left hand. Two flights in a hall where gods fought monsters on huge murals, trough a pair of large double doors and an anteroom where Dionysos hailed a petite girl named Carnelli who was writing something on a papyros scroll.

Carnelli looked up from her work, dark eyes looking respectfully at the son of Zeus.  
" Your father awaits you in the library, Great Dionysos. "  
" Thanks milady. "  
" Shall I ask for refreshments? "

Dionysos turned to Ariadne:  
" You want something, honey? "

Ariadne considered the plate of fruit and sweets she had been nibbling from in the bath and declined. Besides she was too nervous to think of anything she might want. So the page had followed them trough two empty living rooms, displaying the finest of furniture, art and carpets. Yet signs of wear and tear, a forgotten cape here and an open book there showed that these were rooms in use. This was not a place for display, this was the loved home of people.

Another set of double doors led them inside a large library. It held more books than Ariadne ever thought existed, rows and rows of them, expensively bound, and they too showed signs of use. Of having been red, some of them several times. The room rested in a pleasant dusk, the only windows sat high up, and the sun shone trough, dust dancing in the rays.

In a large, comfortable armchair sat a handsome fair-haired man, reading from a large book. Beside him on a table laid more books and some papyrus scrolls. There were also a brass bottle and a glass with some yellow liquid in. Ariadne had seldom seen drinking glasses, hardly even kings used these.

But it was the majestic man who draw all of her attention. His stately appearance and his charisma made it almost impossible to not look at him. In return he looked up from his reading when Dionysos and Ariadne entered the room, a smile appearing on his face. In one gracious movement he put his reading aside, rose and came up to meet them.

" Dion, my son! What has it been? A year? No, more! I've missed you!" The nobleman grabbed Dionysos in a bear hug, he stood half a head taller and had the body of an athlete at the peak of his career. Kind blue eyes smiled at Dion before they slid to meet Ariadne's look.  
" Your majesty!" Court protocol kicked in when Ariadne realised who was standing in front of her, and she fell on her knees on the exotic carpet with its swirling, colourful patterns.

" No, no, no, milady! Stop that!" Zeus' deep voice boomed. "This is not an official audience! Far from it. I'm off duty and welcoming home my son who I haven't seen in 14 mounts. And the young lady he's bringing. Now, let me see your face, Ariadne of Crete. "

Dionysos held out a hand, helping Ariadne up.  
" You know my name?" she asked Zeus.  
" Of course I do. Daughter of Minos, fourth of his name. Princess of Crete. As well as princess of the heart of my loved son Dionysos. Welcome to Olympos, dearest one!"


	6. Immortal and ageless for him

_Sorry for not posting in such a long time, but life and work have been taking too much of my time lately + I got some kind of writers block. But here it finally is, chapter & in my tale about Dionysos and Ariadne. Enjoy!_

**

* * *

****Immortal and ageless for him**

"Ariadne is truly the princess of my heart" Dionysos stated, while holding on to Ariadne from behind. "Father, you do remember the promise you gave me when I first came here at the age of 16?" the younger god asked expectantly.  
"About giving you the lady of your heart as a goddess. Yes I do remember, Dion." The King of the Gods then looked at Ariadne:  
"She's a charming lady with a heart of gold. And when she loves she uses all of that heart. In those green eyes I read honesty and faith. A good choice my son! "  
"Will you do it then, father?" Dionysos asked. "Make her immortal?"

Zeus held out his large hand, two fingers touching Ariadne lightly on her forehead. It felt oddly - normal, Ariadne thought. Not the electric jolt she had expected. Then making love to Dionysos had felt normal too, or at least how normal you can call fabulous sex.

"Immortality" Zeus said and met Ariadne's looks." The transformation is not an entirely pleasant process, I'm warning you. At the same time a broken heart hurts more. As does the pain most mortals go through at the end of their lives. Something you will be relieved of if you turn immortal, Ariadne. But the process is irreversible, you cannot go back to the mortal humans' circle of life once you've become a goddess, you'll have to know that."

"Don't scare her off!" Dionysos pleaded.  
"I'm not, his father answered. I'm only being honest. "  
"I've lost everything I had, great Lord" Ariadne said frankly. "My family, my home, my country. I fled with Theseus, and he dumped me on Naxos. My few very last belongings are the earrings I wear and a shawl I left with the nymph who was collecting the laundry when I came here. In Crete I will not be welcome back and Theseus have probably forgotten I ever existed. "

"Oh, no, he owes you too much" Zeus smiled. "One day he'll regret his deed. But that matters little now. I can read in those green eyes of yours that you have already accepted to trade in your old life. "  
"I have", Ariadne said both to herself and to the two men in the library.  
"Then come with me", Zeus held out a hand to Ariadne, and in reply Dionysos let go of her.  
"You mean - now?" Ariadne suddenly felt her old nervousness blossom back beneath her heart.  
"Why wait?" Zeus said. "It's a long and tedious process, and we don't want your beloved to wait for you longer than necessary, do we? And don't worry, dearest, I'll explain the whole process for you. "

Then the King turned to his son who had started to follow:  
"No, it's better she goes alone, Dion. I need total concentration for this process. Go talk with Hera instead, tell her that she'll have to take the lion's share of governing duty over the nearest fortnight starting today. "  
"A fortnight" Ariadne gasped. "Does it really take that long?"  
"You'll be under for six weeks to two months depending on your genetic quality" Zeus told. "I'll work on you to and from during the time. Think of it as a larvae going into a chrysalis, returning as a butterfly."

¤-¤-¤

"Am I... to go into that?" Ariadne asked with fear in her voice, looking at the marble basin where the water shone of green light and wisping vapours danced over the surface. Around it were pillars and orbs of fire seemingly feeding on nothing but air.  
"You are" said Zeus "that's the Bath. The first step towards immortality. Its proteins will open up your cells and change your DNA. "  
"My... what?" Ariadne turned and looked wide-eyed at the King of the Gods.  
"I'll explain later, now jump in there!" Zeus took the gown from her shoulders, and when she tried to hold on she noticed how much stronger he was.

Hesitant she put a foot in the green liquid and then quickly removed it again.  
"Aii – it hurts!"  
"I told you so", Zeus said, and then he pushed her unkindly down in the basin. And the pain as the water closed around her became almost unbearable.  
"No! I changed my mind! Let me up again! "

Then she sunk, the water filling her lungs and the pain was inside her body and mind as well. Green light tortured her eyes and Ariadne was certain she was dying, that Zeus was betraying her, killing her. The next moment everything went dark...

¤-¤-¤

Ariadne was dreaming. She dreamt about Crete, walking the long beaches where transparent waves were kissing her feet tenderly while she treaded barefoot in the soft, wet sand. Across the ocean sat a large moon, which shone with its strange green light, casting a second shadow behind her.

Then that shadow came loose and started to walk away. Ariadne saw the shadow becoming an old lady, haggard and bent while she, still young, remained with the solar shadow.  
"Don't cry, don't cry Ariadne, don't look at what you could have been" someone was saying. A deep, dark voice filled with soothing compassion.  
"Dion?"

Then the dream changed. She dreamt that she was back on Theseus' ship and that she was talking to the Athenian prince. He was telling her about Athens and about marriage. But he sounded strange, and when she reached out to take his hand he had turned and taken the hand of Chrysandra, the owl-eyed Athenian.  
"She's my bride, because she's Athenian. She has what it takes. You are useless to me, Ariadne" he said and then he pushed her away and the deck of the ship and the rail gave away behind her and she fell into icy water.

"I'll take your laundry" the water nymph was saying and then she started to tear the skin off Ariadne and it burnt like fire.  
"No no no, please, I want it back!" she screamed. It's the only thing I have left in the world!

"Up there" someone was pointing. "Climb the rainbow!"  
"But I can't, it's just air and light."  
"As a goddess you must, come on, climb! Or the minotaur will get you!"

As a confirmation of these words something was roaring, a terrible beast came running through the labyrinth towards her. And she was only armed with a silk-thread, white sunlight shining off the large marble walls, blinding her.  
"Dion, Dion, Dion, help me!"  
"He can't help you now, you must help yourself, climb the rainbow! Climb, Ariadne, climb! "

Everything was heaving around her, the sun came crashing down, burning her retinas, stars traded place with fishes, waterlillies became birds and flew across the sky. Gulls became men in long, flowing togas and started to fight each other with long, shining blades, robed women were singing and butterflies came out their mouths.  
"Steer the ship" the bearded captain Boulos said.  
"I cannot, I'm seasick!"  
"Steer it or Ares will get you, he has reigned his four fastest horses to his chariot, now steer the ship, and don't sink it or Poseidon will be angered!"

Rivers snaked around them and became bridges of water then tunnels of ice. Ice that was burning, with green flames that licked the deck of the ship. Ariadne realised she had to obey or they would all go under, so she reached for the wheel, but the wheel had become a large eye staring at her.  
"One more week!" the eye said.  
"Your words are my law, Allfather" Boulos replied.

Then the ship sank in the greenest of water. And Ariadne fell in a stream of bubbles, fell, fell, fell...

Then Ariadne was swimming, upwards, or at least where she thought was up, where the light came from. And the water got dry and more and more white. Snow? No, it was warm, dry... Silk... sheets.  
"Good, she's awake. I'll go get the Lord Zeus. "

¤-¤-¤

"How do you feel now, your highness?" The raven-haired lady was cooling her hot forehead with a wet cotton pad.  
"I'm sick" she whispered. "I think I've got a fever."  
"It's only the adjustment process. Now drink this!"

Ariadne pushed away the cup with the golden liquid.  
"Please, I'm not thirsty, I don't think I can swallow. "  
"Give her a straw" someone was saying behind her. Dion? No, the dark voice belonged to the mighty Zeus. Ariadne remembered his voice all too well, he had been talking to her all through her dreams.  
"Certainly, my Lord!" The lady rose and left the room with a short bow to Zeus. Her green dress seemed to leave a red imprint on Ariadne's retina.

Zeus sat down on the stool the nymph had vacated and looked at Ariadne. His eyes were bluer than sapphires and the sky, almost radiant.  
"How do you feel now, dearest one?"  
"Strange. I'm hot. Like I've got the flu. Did it work? The immortality process I mean. "  
"It sure did. It's the last step of the process burning through your body now, getting rid of the final traces of mortality. Faulty cells, damaged tissue and old blood. And you're adjusting fine. "

"Where's Dion?"  
"He's on his way, I've sent for him as soon as Bermessa told me you were awake."  
"Bermessa?"  
"Your chambermaid, the lovely nymph who just left. I assigned her to you since I know you'll like her. Besides, her sister works for Dion. I think you've met her. Lori."  
"Lori? Yes, Lori!" Ariadne recalled. "My brain is still in a mess."  
"Oh, don't worry about that, it's only temporary."

"Zeus, how long did I sleep?"  
"45 days. As expected for a woman at your age and in your condition. "  
"I had such strange dreams. "  
"That's was also to be expected. Now, look, here's Bermessa again. Try to drink a bit now, Ariadne! The nectar will help you hasten the final step. "

Obediently Ariadne took the cup with the straw from the chambermaid nymph, mumbled a "thanks" in her direction and drank. And sure, the honey-sweet drink seemed to cool her down a bit, dull the heat. At the same time the fogginess in her brain seemed to wift away like traces of smoke after a blown-out candle.

The next moment Dionysos entered the room.  
"Darling Ariadne!"  
"Dion, my love!"  
"I've missed you, sleepyhead! But you look fabulous! Welcome to the world of the awaken! "


	7. Among the gods

_I really hope someone is still out there reading this, because there's much time and love invested in this story... _

**

* * *

Among the gods**

Ariadne was looking around the great hall with eyes that felt like they were going to pop out, the excitement bubbling in her body, while squeezing the hand of Dionysos. This was almost too much! No, it WAS too much. All those gods in their magnificent clothes and jewellery, the music, the dancing nymphs, all the brilliant lights - flames burning in multiple colours, the flagrances of ripe flowers, frankincense, spicy food and other wondrous things Ariadne could not name.

It was a party held tonight, the farewell party of Persephone who was going down under to join her husband Hades, king of the dead. Ariadne had understood that there was almost always one reason or another for the gods of Olympos to have a party. The night after tonight promised the birthday party of a god who's name Ariadne could not remember and the following night was dedicated to her own welcome party.

" Gives you time to adjust a bit before you become the official centre of attention", Dion smiled. "Come now, let's go say hello to people!"  
" I... "  
" Don't give me that look, honey! They don't bite! And they've been asking for you since I came back, Persephone feared she wouldn't have time to meet you before she was leaving. "  
" Okay then!" Ariadne took a deep breath, calming herself while they strode over the glittering floor to half a dozen individuals gathered around a punch bowl.

There were two men and four women, each of them in their own way seeming to represent the very essence of youth, health and beauty and for a short moment Ariadne felt humble and out of place. Then she remembered her own mirror image, her new divine look, and she realized that she could compete with each of them. Still it had been really hard to tell what was different, she had come to realize that "beauty" had more to do with charisma than actual features. All right, her nose was not that pointy anymore, her skin was smoother, her lips fuller and her eyes seemed larger, clearer and greener. But she was still freckly, "cute" as Dion had labelled it.

" This is my Ariadne", Dionysos told as soon as they came within ears of the six deities. "And these are my sisters Athena and Persephone and my brother Hermes. The others are Aphrodite and Helios and his sister Eos."  
" Welcome to Olympos, darling!" said Athena, put her glass aside and took Ariadne's hand. She was tall and agile and looked like a female version of Zeus, same blue eyes and generous smile and she also shared that cleaved chin and petite dimples that Ariadne loved in Dionysos.  
" Thank you, Athena", Ariadne replied, suddenly feeling so at ease. The great goddess of wisdom had welcomed her as a sister!  
" So you snared Dion", Aphrodite said and smiled. "Good work, sweetheart! The Olympian men are no easy catches." Aphrodite was blond like Athena, but there the similarities ended, she had that kind of sexy radiance that makes men fall all over themselves, cherry lips, violet eyes with long lashes, round hips and high, generous breasts.

Persephone on the other hand had dark, curly hair tied back over high cheek bones and dark brown almond-shaped eyes, and she had even more freckles than Ariadne.  
" I'm really glad you came, I thought I was going to miss you, since I leave early tomorrow. "  
" To go to the land of the dead?" Ariadne asked. "Isn't that scary?"  
" No, not really, the dead are not that different. You get used to it. And Hades is really a sweety when you get to know him. "

" I wouldn't like it down there at least", said the fourth girl, Eos. She was petite and oddly pinkish in complexion with copper-red, braided hair and greyish blue eyes. "Too dark! "  
" Oh, you and your dawns" Persephone giggled.  
" Yeah, so what? Someone's got to do that too. "  
" Come on", Hermes interrupted, "Can't any of you talkative ladies see that our newbie is thirsty?" The redheaded god handed over a cup with fluorescent beverage to Ariadne. Dionysos was blushing at his inattentiveness, he had started talking to Helios as soon as they arrived. Helios was also a blond athlete, round-faced and jovial and radiating with laid-back warmness.

" Thank you, Hermes", Ariadne replied, accepting the drink out of a hand with long, nimble fingers. Then she felt she was repeating herself and told that she really loved to be here, praising the large hall and the party and all the other marvels she had seen.  
" You know I was really nervous", she ended her speech. "But you all have made me feel so welcome in a way I never would have guessed. Thank you all!" She rounded off with a little giggle and Athena smiled back at her.

" There's something I'm curious about and like to know", the tall daughter of Zeus said while Ariadne sipped on the strange yet tasty beverage.  
" What?"  
" How you floored Dionysos of course", Aphrodite cut in.  
" No, not that, stupid", Athena humped. "I like to know what it's like being a mortal and then going from mortal to becoming a goddess. "  
" Who can possibly care", Aphrodite feigned a yaw.

" She'll probably tell that too", Persephone guessed while helping Eos and then herself to more beverage.  
" Yeah, but I asked first", Athena told.  
" No, you didn't", Aphrodite returned.  
" Ladies please", Dionysos said. "I'm floored, and you if any know how that works, Aphrodite!"  
" Why do you always have to take Athena's side?" the goddess of love asked.  
" I'm not taking anybody's side, I'm only..."  
" Blabbing a bit too much", Hermes said, "and meanwhile Ariadne gets no chance at all to tell either this either that. "

" Oh, well", Ariadne begun. She didn't really know what was the right thing to do, if she was to answer Athena's or Aphrodite's question first. Faux de protocol was nothing she wanted on her first social gathering at Olympos. Then it hit her:  
" It's Persephone's night after all, so I'll start with what she would like to hear. "

The goddess of spring seemed to think a bit, then she let up her soft voice:  
" I'm with Athena here. "  
" Yeah", Aphrodite scorned, "you only care about that spooky hubby of yours anyhow. "  
" Pipe down, Aphrie", Eos said. "Let Ariadne speak now! "

Thus Ariadne started her story with meeting Theseus on Crete, helping him defeating the minotaur in the labyrinth and then in return being abandoned by the Athenians at Naxos. And then, within her story, she answered Aphrodite's question by telling how Dionysos had found her and taken her with him.  
" And yesterday I woke up in one of the guest rooms here in the palace of Zeus. It sure was an experience. Because there's a quite a difference. Nothing you note immediately, but then you come to realize how things seem to have changed, becoming more defined and detailed. First of all I can see much better. I can read what those signs say over there, she nodded to some calligraphy haikus on the opposite wall. Before becoming divine I would not have had any chance to do that. "

" Then", she went on, "all the other senses are sharpened. Hearing, smelling, sensitivity. Dion's touches were great before, now they are fantastic - stop blushing, honey! I can hear the sea from up here, and there's a couple of dolphins down there playing right now. I can see patterns in flowers that wasn't there before. Ultraviolet, Zeus told me it's called. I can understand what the birds' singing is about, as well as the dogs' barks and the horses' neighs. I can look right at the sun, seeing it's true beauty and I can even "hear" what some of you are thinking right now. Like Hermes, he's hungry. "

" That's no thinking", Helios pointed out, "just a growling stomach." Ariadne went on unbothered by the sun god:  
" Finally, I know I can do things I haven't tried out yet. I can fly, pass through walls, turn invisible and make mortals believe I'm something or someone else. It's an amazing experience for a girl like me, even if I know that it's things taken for granted by you all. "

When Ariadne finished she realised that she had gotten quite an audience. The original six had become something like thirty, she recognized Zeus in the crowd as well as his employee Carnelli, big Ares and old Silenius. And when Athena and Hermes started to applaud her the rest followed. Some of the gods and goddesses were actually teary-eyed, including Aphrodite who was blowing her nose on a lace napkin.  
" Beautiful", the goddess standing next to Zeus was saying. "You're right, lady, none of us can understand such a transformation. We have never been mortals. We don't really understand the limits they face."

Ariadne looked at the speaker. She was the most elegant being Ariadne had ever seen. Tall and stately, with every detail of hairdo and make-up being true perfection. That was Queen Hera, no introduction needed, and Ariadne bowed slightly in her direction. Hera nodded back with a regal smile.

" I know what you mean", the large man behind Aphrodite let up his voice at that moment. "I've been there done that too. Once mortal now a god. "  
" Oh, Heracles", Hera scorned. "You always try to contradict all the people."  
" No, just you, mother", Ares laughed.  
" Who asked for your opinion?" Athena snarled.

Spread laughter were heard and Ariadne realized that this was not the first time the gods had heard that very kind of exchange. She turned to Dionysos:  
" I guess immortals get to know each other a bit too well. "  
" Yeah, that's why we are so amused when a new face pops up. And you'll soon learn to deal with them, each in her or his own way. "

" She was right about me", Hermes said from behind at the same time. "I'm starving. "  
" So am I", another god let up his voice.  
" You shouldn't be, Apollo", a tomboyish goddess replied. "You ate almost all of my boar. "  
" I did not!"  
" Yes you did!"

Hermes and Apollo were heard and the gods and goddesses entered the tables and after the meal the party continued with music from Apollo and the muses, dancing, drinking and more talking. Dionysos, Ariadne found, was the one responsible for the generous amount of wine, and he made sure her glass was filled all the time too. And in the end she found that getting drunk felt almost the same as it had being a mortal.


	8. The Flute

**The Flute**

" My scar is gone. "  
" Huh?"  
" My scar. On the back of my lower left arm. I used to have a terrible scar there, one I got as a little girl when my sister Phaedra and I played with daggers, pretending we were heroes. "

Dionysos smiled and took Ariadne's left arm, kissing the back of the lower part. She was resting on top of him after a nice love-making. It was still rather early in the morning, too soon to rise if you were not going to busy yourself with something important. The sun was low and the slanted rays still held a bit of orange, mists were lingering between the trees, softening the world and drops of dew glittered from every strand of grass. The trees were beginning to turn yellow, the world knew that Persephone had gone down under again and that Demeter was sad.

Ariadne though had never felt happier. She was spending wonderful days with her beloved, discovering Olympos and her new immortal self. In the days she was practicing flying, shape changing, using a sight-mirror and a lot of other things taken for granted by those born divine. The night she spent cuddled up to her beloved, feeling his warmth, and the safe comfort he radiated.

Dion wasn't really that much of a teacher, he was checking her out now and then but most of the time he was busy with the grapes which were being harvested and pressed, prepared to become the wine of the season. To be honest Dionysos was a bit too impatient to sit around watching Ariadne's development.

Instead it was usually Athena or Hermes who saw to it that Ariadne was learning new things. And sometimes Heracles stepped in too, mostly to explain to the "old" gods what the difference really was about.  
" She has never been able to remember all of her dreams, just fragments" Heracles could tell. "That's why they scare and confuse her. "

Yes, some parts have been scary and tedious but most of the time it was fun. She felt stronger, healthier and more enduring than ever before, something only natural with her new body. And she was free to explore all the wonders of Olympos. There were Demeter's amazing gardens with all kinds of flowers and ripe autumn fruits and berries, there were lakes and waterfall to bathe in, there were all kinds of animals, both familiar ones like horses and dogs and more strange ones, like large, striped cats called tigers and colourful birds called parrots. The latter could talk!

Then there were Zeus' library, she was welcome in there to gather knowledge. Or she could visit the muses when they were practising singing and dancing and playing all kinds of music and then some. Ariadne had never learned to play an instrument and she had never been much of a singer, but she had always loved to dance, and encouraged by the muses she begun to spin around to their music.

Later, one of them named Calliope, a slender, rosy-cheeked girl, had given her a flute and began to teach her to play it. Ariadne found that she actually liked it and that it wasn't really that hard to get a hang of it as soon as you were over the first beginner's errors.  
" The flute is usually a good start." Calliope had explained. "Mastering that you can move on to more "complicated" instruments, like the stringed ones and the keyboards."

Ariadne had taken the flute with her and hidden it, and now she plucked it out from beneath the bed, surprising Dionysos with her music.

" Brilliant!" he said when she was done. "When did you learn this?"  
" Yesterday, and the day before. You were busy making wine so I went to see the muses. And they taught me the flute."  
" They're marvellous! But watch out for Apollo if he comes by" Dion warned. "I have seen the eyes he gives you. "  
" Oh, honeypie! Don't worry! I'm not like some other ladies here, running off with their brothers in law." Ariadne began to toy with a lock of Dion's dark hair while telling what she had heard about Aphrodite.

" It was Iris who told on her, I bet", Dion said.  
"- Yeah. Hera was there, she confirmed it. What does she do like that? Aphrodite that is. I mean Hephaestos might not be the most gorgeous kid on the block, but he seems like nice. And smart. And he gave me those wonderful earrings as a welcome gift."  
"Yeah he sure is nice. But Aphrodite is after all the goddess of love. I guess she can't help herself."  
" Have you too been… ? You know…"

"As a matter of fact – yes" Dionysos blushed. "After a few cups of wine and all that. Although once the novelty wears off I don't want to trade in a more enduring relation for a story with her. I've found true love in you, Ari, and I realise that it's too rare and too wonderful to throw away on reckless affairs. "  
" But your dad? He and Hera… they seem to have the most strange relation. I heard Hera cry the other day. It seemed that Zeus had betrayed her. I wasn't listening, but I had forgotten how good my hearing has become. Oh, I'm sorry, your mother was… but why does he do this? Doesn't your father love Hera?"

" He sure does, he's always caring and attentive when they are together, but I guess he just can't resist a tempting beauty. I don't know why, I've never asked. I used to play around quite a bit myself when I was young, but these days I'm over it. Been there done that, as Heracles uses to say. Even with men to be true. Now I just want little Ari to play her flute to me. "  
" Oh, don't kid me, you're not content with flute-playing."  
" Haha, guess you're right, honey. What do you want to do today? I'm free today, we can go somewhere just you and I. Perhaps checking out the mortal town beneath Olympos. You haven't been there yet, I take it."  
" Oh yeah, sure! That sounds like the thing to do! Can we leave right now?"  
" First we've got to have breakfast, don't you think so? "

¤¤¤

The mortal town was called Taranargon and was perhaps half as big as the Knossos capital on Crete. It was mainly a resort town with people coming to the spas to find remedies and health, or visiting the temples which were being considered extra holy because of being located so close to Olympos. A lot of tourists were also standing at the fields outside just gazing up at the mountain top, hoping to catch the glimpse of a god or goddess.

Ariadne couldn't help laughing at them. She could see the top all right, with its palaces and towers, but the mortals only saw the protective clouds Zeus used to hid the divine home behind. Then Ariadne realised that just a few months ago she too would have behaved just the same, if she had come here, and she suddenly felt so humble.

Nevertheless she soon forgot the staring mortals when Dionysos took her into the town. Being disguised, there was not a single mortal who looked twice at then. On the other hand there were a lot of more or less low-ranked immortals around in the streets. They were disguised too, and taking care of all kinds of errands. These deities nodded respectfully at the son of Zeus and his fiancée, down here the gracious court behaviour was masked into simple body-language hails.

Since Ariadne has grown up in the protected environment of a palace; this mortal town and its narrow, crowded and not very clean streets, the busy squares and the cluttered shops were also a eye-popping novelty to her. She had never really seen poverty before. She had known it existed, but she hadn't been able to picture it. Beggars. Whores. People in ragged clothes; children with big, sad eyes and mothers with tired backs. And some rag-tag men who actually scared her, even if she knew they could do her no harm.

To Dionysos it was no strange thing though, he had told her about his journeys, and how he had seen and lived in everything from kings' courts to huts in the woods. He had even been to prison once, in Thebes, after causing a riot there.

Now he guided Ariadne to a better area, to places where they could shop, and that too became an interesting experience. Dionysos seemed to know everything about dealing with a shop-keeper, to get good prices on things. He played the game until perfection, probably using some telepathic abilities to get away with what he wanted. And by the end of the day the twosome returned to Olympos with a plethora of packages. There were everything from clothes and sandals to candies and perfume, and another flute for Ariadne. An ivory one from a land faraway sold to her by an old bearded merchant with black skin like leather.

She had but put the new flute to her lips when there was a knock on the door. It was Apollo who had heard the music and was asking for more.  
" Will you play with me tonight? After dinner?" the god of music asked Ariadne.

Ariadne blushed.  
" I'm not sure I'm up to that", she confessed. "I'm a newbie, have only been mastering some of the basic sequences yet. "  
" However taught by the muses I can tell", Apollo pointed out. "They are great teachers and you're a natural talent, Ariadne. I really want to hear you tonight. "  
" I... I don't think I dare!"  
" Give it a try at least!" Apollo urged her.

She turned to Dion:  
" Do you think I can do it?"  
" Certainly! You just have to get over your shyness. And I know a good way around that, sweetie!"  
" Just don't get her too drunk, will you!" Apollo said with some edge to his voice.  
" Who are you to master me?" Dionysos replied, he too with an edgy tune.

" Someone with experience of your earlier tries at softening up nervous performers" Apollo replied and stood akimbo glaring down at the half a head shorter god of wine. "You fill them all up, turn them into hopeless wrecks instead of good musicians. Then they perform lousy, get booed out and will never set their foot on a stage again."  
" Apollo, you are talking about my bride to be! Of course I will not 'fill her up' as you call it. All right I might have given someone a drink too much once, but..."  
" Stop it, both of you!" Ariadne heard herself snap. " I will perform tonight and I won't touch wine. But get of Dion's back, Apollo! You have no right to enter his home and criticize him. "

Then she quieted as fast as she had started, feeling a shiver travelling down her neck while she faced the tall, lithe good who was regarding her with hard-to-read dark-blue eyes. The mighty Apollo, the bow-slinger and the destroyer, as well as the creator of beauty. She had snapped at Apollo! And now she regretted her outburst with every nerve in her body. Might that she had angered him!

But Apollo just shrugged and said:  
" Do as you please, lady Ariadne. But remember that wine is no good cure against stage-fright. Good afternoon! " Then he turned and left.

" That haughty knows-it-all" Dion spat after his half-brother. "You don't have to obey him if you don't want to, dearest. If you don't feel ready to perform, don't force yourself to do it."  
" Dion, I really want to!"  
"Go ahead then" Dionysos replied and turned his back, something strange in his voice.

Ariadne wrinkled her brows. Was he... jealous? Because she wanted to perform with the god of music? No, that couldn't be... or...


	9. The mean goddess

**The mean goddess**

No matter that Ariadne was a newbie and her melody a bit raw, her first try at performing had been – if not a success, still a well done first try. Most of the olympian listeners seemed to have liked the contrast between Apollo's seamless beauty and Ariadne's more edgy works and they had applauded her. Blushing she bowed to the gathered gods and goddesses before she left the stage.

" You have it coming, girl, Artemis had said and given her a thumbs-up, and Ariadne had smiled back at Apollo's twin sister. The moon goddess was as dark as her brother was blond, with an open, honest face. She tapped the empty chair next to her. A chair that hadn't been there a second ago. Ariadne had still not mastered the art of having things appearing and disappearing at will.

Sitting down next to Artemis she confessed that she had been slightly nervous about tonight's performance.  
" And I'm not entirely sure that my fiancé liked it."  
" But it was great!"  
" That I did it, I mean. That I actually went up there and played my flute. I don't really know why but it seems to be connected to your brother somehow. "

" Oh, men!" Artemis said and rolled her chestnut eyes. "Show me something – anything they can disagree on and I'll bet my silver bow they will! My bro' and Dion have been disagreeing over most things for decades now. To be honest I think that what started out as a real attitude clash has more or less become a game of sort. Today Dion and Pol can't agree about the tiniest point – they have to have different view-points just for the sake of it. If Pol says this Dion has to say that. "

" Why?" Ariadne asked. "How did it start?"  
"It was... well..." Artemis stopped in her thoughts for a while. "Actually, Ari, I've forgot what it was. She started to giggle, I don't even think they remember themselves. "  
" Oh..."  
" Never mind, here comes Pol with the laurel!"  
" The what?"  
" The wand of laurel for all musicians. "

Ariadne turned to face Artemis brother who with soft hands placed a wand of laurel upon Ari's auburn locks.  
" To you my beauty, he said and smiled the most charming smile. "  
" Pol, don't try to flirt down Dion's wife to be, Artemis mocked from behind."  
" I have no intention to. the god of music chuckled. "

¤¨¤¨¤

Later that evening Ariadne went to look for Dion. She hadn't seen him since her performance. First she had been busy talking to the twins and then to Hermes and Athena who had come and joined them, and she had forgotten all about it. Now she wondered where Dion was, why he hadn't come up to her and said at least something about her performance. Was he... mad at her? For playing with Apollo? But why?

Walking down a broad flight of marble stairs she heard someone call her from above.  
" Princess Ariadne?" A high-pitched, somewhat aggressive voice. Ariadne turned in the direction of the voice, looking up in the spacious gallery where soft, divine light shone off a jet black hair falling freely over the narrow shoulders of a goddess Ariadne hadn't seen before.

" You sucked tonight", the unknown goddess said with a scornful voice.  
" I'm sorry?" Ariadne wrinkled her brows.  
" I said you sucked. "

" Why? Why do you think that?"  
" Me? It's not only me, far from it. The others were only being polite, like that posh Apollo and his dyke to sister. Why do you think your fiancé left? Yes, because he thought it being embarrassing having you making a fool of yourself up there on the scene among the muses. Little princess Ariadne who became Dionysos latest toy and now she wants to show off to the immortal gods. That's not even hubris, that's pathetic!"

Ariadne felt her fists clench.  
" What's wrong with you?" she called back to the goddess up in the gallery. "What have I done to you? I don't even know you."  
" Name's Eris", the other woman said. "And trust me, it's only for your best I say this, but you made a fool out of yourself in there tonight. A complete fiasco. If I was you I'd leave Olympos as soon as possible, and go back to Crete where you belong."

" Crete? But..."  
"You're immortal, that's true, so you can probably go hide in a cave somewhere playing oracle or something. And you'll spare Dionysos the embarrassment of having to drag you around at Olympos. "  
" He's not embarrassed by me, he loves me!" Ariadne cried out.  
" Oh no, he doesn't. Well maybe the first two or three weeks, when you were a novelty here. But now he's over you and consider you just a pain in the neck. A little self-obsessed mortal traitress, how fun is that really for a god, you think?"

" He does love me!" Ariadne repeated herself, but she was beginning to hear doubt in her voice. After all he had deserted her in the main hall tonight after the concert.  
" Haha! He just wants to dump you the way the Athenian prince did. Only that he cannot do it when you're already here. He ran head over heels the way he usually does with women, the old drinker. Dragging his mortal whore up to Olympos, in the presence of Father Zeus, making a fool of himself. Don't you think he regrets that?"  
" That's not true!" Ariadne felt her voice go high pitched and salty tears wetting her eyes, blurring her sight of this Eris.

" It sure is! And you know it! Or haven' t you felt it these last days, how distant he has become. He doesn't spend half as much time with you anymore, princess Ariadne."  
" What do you know about that? Besides he has his wine..."  
" Yeah, and his maenads. After all these girls have guts, which you lack, being spoiled by living in a palace the whole of your life. "  
" What do you know about that?" Ariadne repeated herself. "What do you know about anything? "  
" Oh, I know a lot", Eris replied. "I'm a goddess you know. A real one, unlike certain others. So I know a lot more than you can ever imagine, princess. "

The way she kept saying princess was like if she was saying slave woman or prostitute and Ariadne couldn't stand it anymore. She turned, almost slip-slided down the last stairs and ran out trough the great double doors of the Palace of Zeus, not bothering with drying off the streaming tears. Had this Eris been right, had Dion actually tired of her? Was she now nothing but an embarrassment to him in front of the rest of the Olympians?

¤¨¤¨¤

Somehow Ariadne found it home to Dionysos' place. Dionysos' and her place. Or? She stumbled across the gravelled path and up the stairs to the pillar portico and crashed through the doors with only one thought in her head – to pack and leave, get as far from this place as possible. She didn't want to stay a second more at Olympos if she had become an embarrassment to Dion.

Entering the hallway she ran straight into the huge form of a towering god who with a surprised grunt caught her, preventing her from falling after the impact.  
" Oups, Ariadne why the hurr... what's wrong?"

It was Heracles, the other mortal-turned-god and yet another of Zeus' many children. He looked in surprise at Ariadne's tear-marked face, still holding on to her upper arms with his large, strong hands.  
" I have to leave, I cannot stay any longer", Ariadne sobbed.  
" Why? You just came in!"

" Leave Olympos that is", Ariadne tried to dry away the tears, smearing around make-up in her pretty face.  
"Now what?" this time it was Heracles who was wrinkling his brows.  
" I made a fool out of myself tonight, and everybody thinks I'm a lousy flute player and Dionysos is tired of me and..."

" Dion!" Heracles turned and called up the stairs. "You better come down here!"  
" What?" Dion showed himself in the doors to the upper living room, two more steps and he was leaning over the railing, his long dark hair almost covering his face and expressions.  
" Your Ariadne is apparently in some kind of distress. Someone booed her out at Zeus' place and now she's all tears. "

Dion didn't hesitate a second, he skipped over the railing and jumped down the four meters to the floor, slowing down just in time to avoid the impact of the fall breaking the marble floor tiles. Then he was at Ariadne's side, taking her from Heracles.  
" Honey, what's wrong, what happened in there, who has been mean to you like this? "  
" Dion, are you tired of me? Please, tell me the truth!"  
" What are you talking about, who said such a thing?"

Ariadne felt the tears come anew when she started to tell about her meeting with Eris in the hallway of Zeus' palace and what the other goddess had said.  
" Bitch", said Dionysos when Ariadne was done, and his normally so mellow voice was like whip crack. "I'll wring the neck off that woman!"

" Who? Eris?" Ariadne raised her brows.  
" Who else?" Dion said and his eyes were dark.  
" Eris is a constant trouble maker and strife creatress here at Olympos", Heracles explained." She keep spewing her venom on everyone who comes near her. I guess someone should have told you about her, but she has been away for a while and I think no one bothered. When she's not around it's nicer to pretend she doesn't exist. "

" But why is she... like that? Why did she say all those things to me? I had done her nothing. "  
" Because there's something wrong with her head", Dion replied. "But I'm going to twist it another turn, right now for speaking such things to my lady! "  
" Don't", Heracles said and laid a big hand on Dion's arm. "That's exactly what she wants, you coming along and making more trouble."

" She wants Dion to harm her?" Ariadne asked with surprise.  
" No, not really", Heracles replied. "She'll run off hiding behind Ares' back and then she'll fool him into a fight with Dionysos. That's what she wants. It's not worth it, Dion. She's not worth it."  
" Who, Ariadne?" Dionysos turned to his half-brother, biting his lip.  
" Eris of course. She's not worth the bother. Take care of Ariadne instead. Join her in a hot bath, she was shiwering when I caught her. I guess you and I can finish our discussion tomorrow. "

Dion shrugged but nodded, and with a good night and some comforting words directed at Ariadne the muscled god had left, closing the entrance door after him. Dion held Ariadne tight, confirming once again that there had been no truth to Eris' words.

" But where did you go, did you even listen to me playing the flute tonight?"  
" Sorry but no, Heracles needed urgent help with a thing and I had to go with him to Thermopylae. "  
" To do what?"  
" Check on some mortals, long story, but sometimes duty has to come first even for a god. Especially for a god to be true. How should I know that this sorry person should chose to return home tonight and then attack you? Honey, I hope you can forget what she said. "  
" I have already, especially after what you and Heracles told about her. But next time I play the flute will you listen to me?"

" I will, I promise, beloved!"


	10. Wine for a queen

**Wine ****for a queen**

" Will you take this to the royal couple, sweetheart?" Dionysos had filled an amphora with the reddest of liquids. Pristine wine, the first quality drops of the season. These were by tradition sent to Zeus and Hera to enjoy. Ariadne rose from her place where she had been watching her beloved regard, sniff and taste the newly made beverage, swirling the liquid around in a delicate, lily-shaped glass. She had seen him using a chalk crayon to make signs on the oak barrels – which were going to storage, which were going to the Palace, which he would keep for himself and which he would sell or trade with the other gods and pantheons.

It had been a fascinating sight, Dionysos in full concentration, performing his work with a sparkling passion and with every movement filled with skill, knowledge and love. She had heard him mumbling for himself about 'filth on the bottom' and 'bouquet' and 'better than last year at least'. He had been making notes on large sheets of papyrus, all the time behaving like he had forgotten everything about time and room around him, it was just him and his treasured red gold that existed in the whole wide world.

Even Ariadne had been forgotten but she had not despaired. She had been given a few cups and asked to taste and judge.  
" But I hardly know anything about this."  
" That's why I value your taste, lovely one. You have no prejudices, you simply tell me which one you like the best."

So Ariadne tasted and then Dion had tasted it too.  
" You're right. It's the Eastern grapes that taste the best this year. Must be because of the sparse rain. When dad forgets to bring in rain Eastern grapes are the ones that handles it best. The northern ones are the best if there are some cold nights in the beginning of the season and the Western grapes are the best ones to handle wet summers."  
" And the Southern ones?"

" They are the easy ones. The average. That's the kind the mortals use, since these grapes work most of the time, so I don't have to listen to mortal prayers constantly. At the same time they are never as delicious as a good barrel of Eastern on a dry year."

¤¨¤¨¤

Soon Ariadne found herself in the private chambers of Zeus and Hera with her amphora of Eastern wine. She hadn't been there since she became deificated a few months back, and once again she was stricken by the magnificent home. And how strange it seemed that a place could feel both large and airy and cozy and welcoming at the same time.

The page had shown her into a large living room spanning over two stores, with the second store being a catwalk rounding three of the four walls and with a spiralling staircase of dark oak finding its way down to the first floor. The fourth wall was one single large window with a splendid view over the sea and the mortals' land below. She was so high up that she could see some stray clouds beneath her.

_I__'ll be right with you, dearest_, she heard a voice in her head. Queen Hera. Ariadne looked around but the queen was nowhere near, instead she got an impression of Hera by a large mirror, a nymph helping her with her hairdo. That would take a few minutes, Ariadne figured and went looking around in the large room. There were soft sofas and coaches and tables crafted by exotic woods. There were chandeliers and lanterns for divine fire, exotic plants in pots, a miniature pond and waterfall against one of the walls and a fireplace against the other.

At a table Ariadne spotted some drawings and she went over and had a look at them. Art had always interested her. A centaur, looking almost alive as he reared, long tail and hair flying around him, and his strong right hand swinging a battle ax. There was Apollo with his lyre, half-finished, and a still life of arms; the crested helmet showing signs of batter and wear while the sword beside it looked pristine and new.  
" Hmm, skilled artist", she mumbled to herself. "Who can that be?"

Then she spotted a painting of a familiar-looking naked man sleeping on soft sheets, his magnificent, muscled body in tranquil rest and his long hair surrounding a face of divine masculine beauty. Broad shoulders, strong arms, hard belly muscles and sinewy legs. All too familiar.  
" Dion? "

Yet a closer look revealed that it was not her husband who had been portrayed in a way that left absolutely nothing for the imagination. The angle of his cheek, the size and shape of his hands and the way the hair curled and whirled around his face soon revealed who Ariadne was looking at. Zeus. The King of the Gods in all his glory. Reddening Ariadne laid down the drawing among the others.

" Now you know what he looks like out of his togas and tunics", someone said in her ear, and Ariadne turned, facing her queen. Hera smiled and resumed:  
" I assume you can figure out why he is so hard to resist – for me as well as for all the others. And he uses it, he sure uses it."  
" I'm sleeping with his son," Ariadne stated as a matter of fact. "Like father like son, so I'm not really that surprised. "

Hera placed a silver plate at the table. It held some shiny, dark-brown objects.  
" Here, she changed subject. Have one!"  
" What is it?" Ariadne took a piece, it was soft and sort of warm in her hand.  
" Chocolate," Hera replied. "We trade it for Dionysian wine with the Azteq Pantheon on the large continent south-west of the Atlantic. Taste it!"

Hesitating Ariadne bit in, it didn't look that tempting. But after her first bite she didn't waver anymore. Before politeness got the better of her she had eaten three of the pieces Hera offered.  
" Oh, I'm sorry, my queen I just…"  
" You fell in love, just like everybody else. They know what they do these Aztequas. Just like your fiancé. Come on, let's taste this season, my friend! "

Hera filled two cups and in the silence of sipping Ariadne's eyes darted again to the drawing of Zeus.  
" You made these? "  
" Yeah, it's a little hobby I indulge in when I need to rest from the usual queen business. "  
" May I dare a question?" Ariadne looked at Zeus again.  
" Go ahead!"  
" How did it become… you and Zeus? "

Hera sighed and smiled, this time it was her cheeks that got rosy. She offered another piece of chocolate and began:  
" Well, it wasn't your usual ballroom flirt. "

¤¨¤¨¤ _Hera's tale _¤¨¤¨¤

I had known Zeus more or less my whole life, but all the way into my hundred-and-twenties he had been more like a big brother to me. Someone who was around, a good friend to talk to and spend time with. We had fought the Titans together and then we both came to live at Olympos. He wearing out marriage after marriage, me looking for true love in other directions. I hadn't even considered Zeus until that day…

I knew that Zeus had betrayed his wife Themis with cherry-lipped Leto, that was after all the talk of the town. I also knew that Leto was not interested in a relationship with the king. She had in fact left Olympos more or less together with Themis. But now whispers were heard that Leto was pregnant. Twins, they said. Zeus was the father, some said, while others claimed it had to be Poseidon.

Yet these things were hardly on my mind that early spring day when I was walking the wooden-clad mountain slopes, looking for a place to test my skill at growing flowers. The sun was playing peek-a-boo among fluffy clouds, making it too hot for my shawl when she was out, too cold for bare shoulders when she was hiding her sweet face.

After a while I found a good place, a south-facing clearing in the woods. No snow covered the brownish last year's grass, there were even signs of new, pristine strands. I started working, realizing it was only going so-so, and the next thing I noted was large snowflakes starting to fall. And fall and fall. I cursed loudly as the snowfall increased. Now it would be impossible to make more flowers. Better to return home, I thought and turned. And almost stepping on the little bird, an injured cuckoo dragging his wing in the snow, freezing in this sudden cold.

" Poor you!" I exclaimed. "Poor poor little you! I" knelt and lifted the hurt bird up and held him close to my chest, warming him while I tenderly healed his broken wing. There I sat for a moment until I suddenly got that well known feeling that someone had his eyes upon me.  
" Wish I could trade place with that bird", a familiar voice was heard and I turned around, facing Zeus standing among the pines with hands on his back and looking at me with an odd-angled smile.

I should have come up with something smart to say, but of course one-liners like 'you broke a wing too?' came to my mind too late. Instead I just let out something stupid and let go of the now healed bird, which with a surprised twirl took off in the air. Then Zeus was standing next to me holding out his large hand for me to take. I let him help me up, dudes always want to play the gentleman after all.

" So what've you been up to down here?" Zeus asked conversationally.  
" I was trying to grow flowers, but this bad weather surprised me. "  
" I'm sorry about that," Zeus replied. "I was trying to make snow, had no idea that I interrupted with someone else's work. "  
" I didn't really tell anyone I was doing this," I replied. "Seems you had better luck with your practice than I had with mine. "  
" Perhaps I just got an earlier start," Zeus smiled. "You seem to have got a bit on your way in spite." He nodded at those yellow little ones that were growing in the clearing.

" Oh, those!" I looked at the yellow fluffs which were to become known as coltsfoots. "They're nothing, just ugly first-tries. Zilch compared to Demeter's roses and orchids. "  
" Come on, Hera", Zeus smiled, "don't be so hard on yourself! Demi has had a life-time of practice. She probably made flowers before she knew how to walk. And I bet her first tries weren't that impressing either. "

Zeus bent down and picked one up:  
" I think they are cute. And sturdy ones to be able to grow in this cold. "  
" You don't have to be nice to me."  
" Why not? Besides I'm not 'nice' to people. You know I say what I think. A king's privilege. But I'm really sorry for snowing on your work. Let me make it up for you by offering some heated nectar over at my place. You look a bit frozen, Hera. "

He was right, I was freezing in the increasing snow fall, a simple shawl did not help, and I had used most of my divine powers for flowers and for helping that bird, not thinking of keeping myself warm.  
" You've always been putting other beings before yourself, even if it's just a little bird," Zeus went on. "I admire you for that, there aren't many who do that, especially not among the conceited immortals. "  
" I try, at least", I replied, and he laid his arm around me at those words, sharing some of his own heat. I let him caress me, it felt so nice at the moment to just snuggle up and feel cared about. Faithes know that I hadn't had that many chances at physical contact.

So when Zeus' hands travelled down the small of my back, when he tried to kiss me I let him do exactly that. Before I knew it I was standing with my back against one of the stocky olive trees, feeling Zeus' kisses and hands all over me. Suddenly I understood why they called him "the electric god". It had nothing to do with thunderstorms. Nothing at all.

Starving for passion I let Zeus do all that I had been missing for so many years, ever since I kicked the god Azourael out of my life. 30 long years had passed since. 30 lonely years devoid of passion and tender love.

When we both were spent and pleasantly tired I asked Zeus:  
" Does the invitation for hot nectar still stand? Because I think I can need something to wind myself down now."  
" Sure it does", Zeus had smiled, helping me up one more time.

When Zeus closed his door behind us I noted how lonely his home felt. He had always been sharing it with someone. First with Metis, his first wife, and when she left Themis had moved in. And hadn't there been someone in between too? Eurynome? Yet now the place echoed with emptiness and it felt colder than necessary in the large marble hall with the shining staircase.

" I let the divine fire burn out", Zeus said when he noted how I shivered. "I didn't think I was going to return until late in the afternoon, I thought it would be harder than it was to make snow. "  
"That's not what makes me shiver," I told. "You're lonely. This place is empty, void of laughter. You're not supposed to be lonely, Zeus. You're not supposed to live in a lonely, dark and silent home. You should have a family. "

" I can't keep one." Zeus suddenly looked so sad. "Everyone just leave. I had a wife, a daughter. As you know. However I drove them away. Metis took li'l Athena with her and left. And now my Themis have done the very same..."  
" But it wasn't your fault."  
" Yes it was." Zeus stared out of the large window where the snow was still falling. He had forgotten, or just not cared about turning it off.  
" How?"  
" Let's just say I had love, but I threw it away. Betrayed it. Don't want to talk about it anymore, let's make hot nectar instead!"

At that time there weren't as many nymphs around to help us with things. Zeus had to get his nectar by himself from a cold storeroom in the basement and then he brought it up into a rustic livingroom where he took out two cups from the locker and heated the beverage for us.  
" Nice!" I sipped the hot drink. "Just what I needed now. "  
" Me too. Thaws up the body, brings on spring in the soul. Hera, show me what flowers you had in mind!"

I made them in my hands and gave them to Zeus. Little purple and blue ones. Hepaticas, windflowers and anemones. And one single, red. Shaped like a heart. I don't know why I did it and I have never done it ever again. But Zeus looked at it with tears in his beautiful eyes. Then he put down both drink and flowers and took me in his arms.  
" Don't count on me, Hera", he said, mouth to my hair. "I cannot give you that. "  
" How do you know? "  
" I have tried. "  
" Try again!"

" I can give you one night. Or maybe two. I can give you pleasure you have not known before and will not ever know again. And what for? To break your heart just like I break everybody else's. No, little sister…"  
" Cut that "sister" thing, Zeus! I'm not looking for affection of that kind."  
" Then don't come looking here! "

" You wanted to trade place with a cuckoo? Now here's your chance! Deliver me those nights of extraordinary pleasure you claim to be skilled enough to deliver. Then let's take it from there!"

I have no idea where my bravery came from that day. If it was something with the nectar or if it was simply the case that I felt lonely too. Nevertheless I soon learned that Zeus was right. He could deliver like nobody else. In turn I warmed his heart, and when spring came for real that year Zeus was thawing from the inside too. And with him his home. I found love in that airy marble house at the highest point of the Olympos, warm love, friendship and compassion. And Zeus in turn found someone who fought for us. Someone who stayed in spite of his missteps.

All right I have been crying, I have been cursing and throwing every reachable object at him. But most of the times no such things are called for, most of the times he's all mine. Yet people around us keep remembering the bad times, the incidents with Maia and Io and Callisto and all the others he can't let be. Still I know Zeus loves me, and most of the time it's enough for me.

¤¨¤¨¤

" Now, what are you two ladies gossiping about?" a good-natured voice boomed out in the living-room where Hera and Ariadne sat. Ariadne turned to look at the king of the gods who was standing in the door-frame, casually dressed in a turquoise, golden-rimmed tunic, slightly red and panting, as if he had been flying fast all the way from Aegyptos.

" About you of course, darling", Hera smiled at her husband and Zeus came up and kissed her on her cheek, a kiss somewhere between lust and affection.  
" Am I really that interesting?" Zeus asked.  
" Guess you are", Ariadne said. "Look, I bought the prime drops from this season's wine. Come and have a taste, Zeus!"

" I sure will, miladies. And I see you've been in the chocolate box too. You trying to convert another poor soul, Heralove? This will be costly if we have to buy even more of the Azteques' goodies next time."  
" No worries", Hera replied, "if Dionysos keeps producing this fine wine we will have treasures to barter with."  
" I drink to that", Zeus replied and tasted the beverage. "Ariadne, Tell your fiancé that I'm more than pleased with this season's wine!"


	11. By the hearth of Hestia

_Thanks to Iktomi, auora, __Aurora Spirit; __SleepyHeather; __EvenstarGoddess1; __RockQueen__ et cetera for your support. __You make me inspired enough to continue this!_

**By the hearth of Hestia**

Came autumn Ariadne followed Dionysos on trips all over the world. This was the season when her beloved went selling his wine to other pantheons in exchange for goods like the chocolate Ariadne had enjoyed at Hera and Zeus' place, fur from Valhalla, silk from Kathai, fine papyrus from Aegyptos and a plethora of other exotic items. Ariadne had a real hard time grasping the seemingly endless world and all the impressions she was fed with.

All the time they were followed by Athena who was marketing olive oil and Hermes, who did the real business talk – and always finished the deals with a smug look on his face, like he had more or less set the counterpart gods up. In more unstable areas Herakles went with them as a body guard. Because gods could also be in peril, there were giants in the north and dragons in the east, and even if these beasts couldn't kill a god they could still harm really bad. And none of them were exactly that keen on having an angered dragon setting their valuable goods on fire.

" I've been talking to dad", Dion told Ariadne on their way home from the gods of Babylonia. "He reckons my years of education are over now, and he wants me to concentrate on wine making. Oil and wine is making Olympos rich and more and better wine will benefit us all. Including the mortals if I can find better grapes for them too. "  
" Then you won't travel as much anymore?" Ariadne asked.  
" No."  
" Won't you miss that?"  
" Perhaps a bit. But now with you sharing my home I don't feel half as restless as I used to. Anyhow there will still be necessary to venture on these business trips in the future. As well as it'll be enough time for holiday journeys. "  
" Where do gods holiday then?"  
" Oh, wherever we like! "

Autumn turned into winter and the travelling deities arrived home in time for the Winter Solstice party, where all the gods exchanged gifts and ate and drank even more than usual. That party was followed by a period when soft snowfalls covered the complete upper Olympos, showing Ariadne's mountain home in a completely new kind of beauty.

Although it was chilly she never suffered from the cold as she had done being mortal. Her divine presence just noted the chill in an objective kind of way when she ran barefoot in the snow, chasing Dion around until he let her catch him and they both fell down in the white powder, wrestling and laughing.

On the other hand winter meant mostly indoors antics, like sitting around Hestia's fire in the dark long nights drinking heated nectar and telling tales. These were of all kinds from love stories with sad endings to scary ghost stories. Or Zeus could tell about the Titan wars, but most of the gods weren't interested in those, they had already heard them more than enough. Yet Ariadne listened with excitement to those adventures which took place long before Zeus became appointed king of the gods and installed himself and his family and friends at Olympos.

Nevertheless, she was most touched by Hestia's own tale. The tale about a goddess who had her heart broken and who was still fighting to dare to trust again.

" His name was Prometheus," Hestia began. "He was one of Zeus' earliest advisors and co-workers. He was an amazing man who wanted to create a new mankind. But his social experiment turned into a disaster and I became caught in the midst of it all. "

¤¨¤¨¤ _Hestia's tale_ ¤¨¤¨¤

Prometheus was not the man you fall in love with immediately, he was more of the kind that grows into sight. He wasn't a buff warrior like my brother Zeus or Poseidon or a shining miracle like Hyperion. He was more of a scholar, tall and slim and with an aura of intelligence and wisdom surrounding him. And he nurtured dreams. Big dreams. Prometheus wanted to build a completely new world, turn humanity into a totally different race. A race of power and glory almost equalling the gods themselves.

I remember him discussing with Zeus late in the nights, sitting by my hearth, floating in and out of sleep. I had not yet mastered controlling the flames with my subconscious, I still relied on some attention to keep them burning. So I was merely napping through those chilly nights when Zeus and Prometheus kept on discussing the future of mankind.

" It's too early", I could hear my brother say. "It can be dangerous. "  
" But we have to start someday", Prometheus replied. "And why not now? The longer we wait the more people down there will die from plagues, wars and famine. "  
" Methy, we have already begun, and you know that. But we cannot rush it. Too much knowledge in the hands of mortals too early will be hazardous. They will use what we teach them to make more lethal weapon and then they will make wars upon each other. Terrible wars we will have a hard time to stop. Especially since our kind has a tendency to be dragged in and taking sides, using mortal hostilities for the benefit of their own politicking."

" But there are other things. Cures against the plagues. Printing letters. Steam engines. Electricity..."  
" Things they will have to come up with themselves in order to learn how to handle it. "  
" Zeus..."  
" Patience, my dear brother, patience! You are intelligent and gifted, but you lack patience. We can't rush the development of humanity. One day they will walk on the surface of the moon, but that will be millennias from now. "

They went on like that and I drifted off to sleep and then back again and Zeus and Prometheus were still up, discussing wars. Next time Prometheus had trailed off to his own home and Zeus had fallen asleep in a cloud cushion with his arms around Metis, the woman he was married to back then. I watched them with warmness in my heart. I loved them very much, but I also felt that Prometheus was right. In a way. The sooner we gods could bring help to the mortals the less they had to suffer, and the less they would have to battle each other over the sparse resources they had at hand.

I knew that Zeus relied on trade and Demeter's new corn to keep famine away. But somehow I felt that more was needed. So one of those days I went talking to Prometheus.  
" Is there anything we can do for the mortals that Zeus doesn't feel is too hasty?" I asked the god.

He was standing leant against the marble railing looking down into the valley below and at the mountains beyond, bluish black hair tied back in his usual ponytail, slender hands resting on the white marble and the dark indigo leather cloak flapping in the wind. A light rain was falling but it didn't seem to bother him. I followed his gaze down to the neat little mortal town in the valley below. Using telescope vision I could see men on horseback following the road by the snaking river and farmers working on the fields.  
" They need us", Prometheus replied. "They need our knowledge. We can't go on keeping it to ourselves, it's unfair. "  
" Zeus said they will have to learn themselves."  
" Zeus said, Zeus said! Why does everyone just listen to him all the time? He conquered Chronos all right, and sent him down in Tartarus, liberated us all. But does that mean he's always right?"

" No, but..."  
" Look at us!" Prometheus held out his hand, indicating the splendours of the Olympos. "Look at our lofty marble vistas, wonderful gardens and singing fountains! And then look at them, Hestia! Look at their huts, at their stamped earth floors and their sparse belongings! We could give them so much; teach them so much, if _he_ didn't hold back! Why does he do that? Does he fear for his own power? Does he fear an upheaval from the mortals, using the tools _we_ have given them? No, I think that if we _don't_ give them what they need, _then_ they might turn against us. "

" But they don't have the power. They know better than rally against gods. "  
" So? We are the more powerful. But that gives us responsibility as well, Hestia. "  
" Prometheus, my brother is a responsible man. I think he will understand if you just..."  
" I've discussed this with him for months. But we're getting nowhere. And meanwhile those down there continue their miserable life. Hestia, winter is on its way. I can't help wondering how many will die this year. How many little children, how many old and wise who really need to stay around to share their knowledge?"

I suddenly felt a shiver as a cold wind swept over the terrace. Protecting myself I conjured up tiny flames of my divine fire and swept them around me. Prometheus looked with awe at me doing that, mahogany eyes gleaming as something kicked into action in that brilliant brain of his. What, I did not know at the time though.  
" Amazing!" he said. "Amazing the thing you just did with the flames, Hestia. I've never seen anything like it. And beautiful as well."  
" It's just... a minor trick. I learned it hardly past my teens. "  
" With divine fire. Amazing..." Prometheus suddenly seemed lost in thoughts. "Amazing... he whispered to himself again, far away in thoughts. "

During the months to come Zeus and Prometheus came up with a plan of teaching the mortals to preserve food better and build sturdier houses, but the scholar god didn't seem to think it was enough and he continued to nag Zeus. At the same time I tried to soothe him and we went for long flights, enjoying the endlessness of the skies and the beauty of the Earth seen from high above. Soon I found that he nurtured an interest in me that went beyond mere friendship. I was not sure I was ready for such a relationship so I tried to keep him at a certain distance. In vain, he had this special quality that woke something inside of me.

Then it didn't take long until Prometheus had lured himself into my heart, my home and my soul. Snared my very being in his net of sweet words and tender kisses. Little did I know that they meant nothing to him, that they were all part of a cleverly laid trap. And that I was expendable in his great scheme.

" Teach me how to make these magic flames!" he asked me. "They are nothing like the simple ones we others can do. They are unique. I want to learn how to bring them up on such a short notice as you do. "  
" Oh, it's more like... I don't conjure them up. I take them with me instead. "

I taught Prometheus how to bring a flame from the hearth and hide it inside his chest without burning anything and then take it out when needed. Things connected to the divine energies surrounding a divine body that was hard to master if you didn't have anyone teaching you. Or had spent a lot of time practicing, as I had done.

We played around; I showed him how to make flames in other colours than orange. Blue ones, green ones, crimson, pink and purple. White and even black. Those black flames are special; they make white objects glow with an unearthly purple luminescence. I also showed how to make bubbles of fire and little figures, but Prometheus was not really interested in these things. He wasn't even interested in the trick of writing his name with flames. It disappointed me a bit, the fire-bubbles were – and still are – among my favourites.

Then one day Prometheus' betrayal was a fact. And it led to disaster!

The fatal day started wonderful enough with a bright spring sunshine warming Olympos. We were gathered for breakfast at the east-facing terrace of Zeus' palace when the royal messenger Iris came flying with an upset and worried look upon her face, her rainbow-coloured veils trailing behind her. She halted just inches from crashing into the meal-table.

" Zeus! Zeus!" she called out.  
Zeus hailed her but showed no concern. He knew that Iris sometimes over-reacted. This was no such time though:  
"What is wrong, my friend?"  
"Thaneria is on fire", the goddess exclaimed.  
"What?" Zeus rose. Mumbles of concern broke out around him, Selene getting her nectar in the wrong throat and coughing upon it.  
"The whole city is burning, and the mortals don't seem to be able to put out the fires. It appears that the fires are of the Divine kind. Of Hestia's kind. "

"My kind?" I suddenly felt 12 pair of eyes upon me and how all blood left my face. How could my fire be burning down the mortal town? "But I haven't - By Styx, I swear!" I staggered, looking for sympathy around the table. But it dawned upon Zeus even before I understood what had happened.

"Prometheus!" Zeus raged, glaring around the table, but his counsellor was not around. "He's sleeping in of course", the King of Gods went on. "But I am sure going to kick his sorry ass out of bed! Hestia! Go down there and retrieve your flames immediately before more damage is done! Helios! Hera! Poseidon! Eos! You follow and save what can be saved! Lives first!"

Shaking in my whole body I put down my napkin, rose and left my half-finished breakfast behind to obey my brother. Now I understood! Now I understood what Prometheus had wanted all the time. It wasn't me. It was my fire. My magic tricks with the divine fire. He wanted to be able to steal divine fire down with him to the mortals realm. For that he had used me. There hadn't been a grain of love in his bitter cup, just treason! Hera held out a hand to steady me but I shook my head. I wasn't that overwhelmed. I was more angered. Angered at Prometheus who had betrayed me so wily and at myself who had let myself be fooled by sweet words and tender kisses.

While the infuriated Zeus walked off to drag his counsellor out of bed I went down with the others to try to retrieve my flames. It wasn't that hard, they still obeyed me, even if they had been stolen by my "lover". But they felt tainted by his betrayal and I couldn't keep them but put them out. And with an ache in my heart and tears stinging my eyes I started to help the others with saving mortal lives and property.

Zeus and Prometheus never really found the truce after that and Prometheus soon left Olympos. It was with relief I saw him pack his bags and take off in the skies.  
" I feel raped"; I told Zeus when Prometheus was but a speck against the blue sky.  
" I though he didn't touch you?"  
" He molested my flames. That feels even worse than if he had taken my body. "

" I don't know what was worse", Zeus replied. "That he burned down the mortal town or that he broke your heart dearest sister. Still those who died are dead and the homeless we can give new dwellings. But tell me how I can make it up for you!"  
" Time will heal me, Zeus," I said. "Time will heal... "

¤¨¤¨¤

" I guess it's still not healed yet". Hestia finished her story. "I still don't dare to trust a man. I still fear betrayal behind every sweet word, I still back off when anyone comes too close. "  
" So you are a virgin, just as they say?" Ariadne asked, looking at the sweet looking and kind goddess who sat opposite of her by the heath, feet tucked under her and her red silk dress shining softly in the sheen of divine flames.

Hestia plucked a flame from the heath, toyed with it around her slender fingers.  
"- For the time being yes. One day I know I must get myself together and give it a try. Hera and Aphrodite keep nagging at me. About how they can cure me and lovely men they want to match me with. And I know if I had been one of them I couldn't have been without love and sex. The restless Aphrodite and the faithful Hera might seem like two opposites, but they sure are more alike each other than they think. "

" Then what kind am I?" Ariadne asked.  
" You're like Hera. You value enduring love over burning passion. And I wish... that I one day might dare to taste both. "

" Another thing", Ariadne asked. "With Prometheus. The mortals on Crete – they told that when Zeus found out about the fire he chained Prometheus to a rock and had an eagle to feed on his liver. "  
" Really?! "  
" Yeah. I can't imagine him doing such a thing in spite of everything Prometheus did."  
" No, neither can I. But I can imagine little brother saying it. He does say those things when he gets mad. And someone might've overheard, and then believed in it when Prometheus disappeared from Olympos not long after the event. Zeus has scared more than one poor nymph with his colourful threats even if he means nothing with them. He's simply bad-tempered even if he has grown better over the years. "


	12. In the garden of Demeter

_Thanks to emmy, xx.midnight inspiration.xx, Harajuku Girl et cetera for your support!_

* * *

**In the garden of Demeter**

Winter gave way for spring. The days got longer again and the snow started to melt, providing the creeks and the waterfalls with new zest. Then Hera's little anemones and coltsfoots started to pop out of the grass. They had found their own time to bloom and multiply, in good time before Demeter's splendour. And at the equinox of spring one month later Persephone returned home.

Ariadne went over to Demeter's place to welcome Persephone, admitting to herself that she was more curious than gleeful. She hardly knew the spring goddess, having only met her once, half a year ago, on her first real night at Olympos. Now she wanted to know where the goddess would come from. Out of the ground? And what she would be like after having spent half a year down under with her fearsome husband.

Zeus and Hera's daughters Karpo and Auxesia were there too, since they worked in the gardens of Demeter most of the time, Karpo with fruit and Auxesia with herbs and spices. And Demeter of course, overjoyed with the prospect of seeing her beloved daughter again. She was preparing a celebratory lunch and talking all the time about everything she had planned for her daughter during her stay up.

" Seems like six months will hardly be enough," Ariadne pointed out.  
" Oh, she's like that every year," Karpo replied. "But give a month she is back in normal routine again, tending her garden and Persie will be relieved from motherly overload. "

Then came noon and the shadows became as short as they would be. A soft breeze blew through the garden, making white and pink petals of cherry blossom come loose and swirl around in the wind. A wonderful smell came with the breeze – and there she was – Persephone. She was just standing there between two blossoming cherry trees, looking a bit disorientated and unfocused.

Then she recognised her surroundings, saw her mother and with a scream of joy she was in Demeter's arms again.  
" Kore, little darling! I have missed you so much," Demeter almost cried of emotion.  
" And I've missed you too, mother. "

After hugging her hard Demeter held her daughter at and arms length, regarding her.  
" But you're so pale! We must get some sun upon you immediately! "  
" And I'll be all freckled again," Persephone giggled. Then she looked around, recognizing her half-sisters and hailing them. As well as Ariadne, and with a smile that made Ariadne beam back with joy. Persephone remembered and recognised her and was glad to meet her again. Dionysos' beloved wasn't just a stranger who had wisped by the final day before Persephone went under six months ago.

¤¤¤

" So," Persephone said after the lunch was finished. "I guess I have a lot of gossip to catch up on. What happened when I was away?"  
" Yeah, what did happen?" Auxesia tucked off her fingers: "Athena and Ares are fighting another war back east. Selene has a new boyfriend who sleeps all the time, Poseidon earthquaked Thebes because he felt they didn't renovate his temple the way they should. Eos is pregnant but refuses to tell who the father is, but we are all guessing it's our notorious dad. And Aphrodite went to bed with Atlas. "  
" Atlas," Ariadne raised her brows. "How can he do it carrying heaven on his bare shoulders? "

At that comment Auxesia looked puzzled, then Persephone started to giggle and Auxesia fell in with her heartily and loud laughter.  
" That's mortal belief!" the goddess of herbs said after drying off tears from the corner of her eyes. "Don't tell me... Oh, no, you haven't been there yet. Atlas is not 'carrying heaven' like that. Because heaven is not a roof, it's only sun-coloured air."

" But..."  
" He's one of dad's guardians of law and order, living in the far west on a mountaintop like ours," Karpo went on. "He's upholding the laws of heaven, the very notion of Zeus' rule. "  
" But he fought against Zeus in the Titan wars, didn't he?" Ariadne asked. "I was told that he was to hold up heaven as a punishment for that. "

" It's true that he fought against Zeus," Persephone confirmed. "And it's true that he was banned to the end of the known world for that deed. But even punishments come to an end, and when Zeus saw that Atlas had actually created an ordered society over there he forgave him, took his hand and installed him as his co-worker instead. "

Then Karpo and Auxesia went off to continue their work leaving Ariadne alone with Persephone in the shadow of the high silver poplars. Demeter had gone off too, to tend to a new bead of orchids. Ariadne couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. She turned to the other goddess:  
" Pardon me but how do you manage?"  
" Manage what?"  
" This commuting life. Don't you miss this wonderful place when you go under? Do you really love Hades? Because..."

" Yes I love him. I love him very much. This might sound hard to believe but he is the one who holds my heart. Now I love to have come here to mother and my sisters and you, and I can't wait to meet all the others tonight at the welcome home party. But I know that in a few months I'll start to get homesick. This might sound so corny, but when I'm here I want to be down under and when I'm there in the winters I can't wait to return to Olympos. Strange, isn't it? "

" No, I can understand you miss Hades. I would go crazy if I had to stay away from Dion for six months. "  
" When I'm down under I miss you all. Hades is a love, but his kingdom can be such a bore. If his subjects weren't dead already I bet they'd kill themselves out of mere boredom. "

Ariadne couldn't help smiling at those words from Persephone. Then she got solemn again. A while the friends sat silent listening to the fountain an the birdsong.  
" Can't Hades come here then?" Ariadne asked after a while. Persephone shrugged.

" He has a standing invitation. After all Zeus is the god of hospitality. And they were brother in arms, Zeus and Hades. Fought the Titans so long ago. "  
" Then what's the problem?"  
" He doesn't want to come here. "  
" Why?"  
" Well, first of all he can't stand the strong sun light. He gets blisters. And if he comes at night – there's still flowers and pollen that make him sneeze. But that's not the worst thing. "

" Then what is?"  
" We are. We, the gods and goddesses of Olympos. He doesn't like to be around us. "  
" Why? You mean people here have been mean to him?" Ariadne couldn't hide her anger. "She didn't know Hades, had never met him, the only thing she knew was the little Dionysos had told her. In spite she became furious. The very thought of someone being badly treated was against everything she believed in."

" Well, not really mean," Persephone began. "Still Hades has always been the outsider. The strange guy, the odd one. People don't understand him; they find him spooky and weird. I can understand that, he's not the average happy-go-lucky party animal like most of us. He's more solemn and quiet, can appear stern at first glance. Yet when you get to know him he's… different. It's a pity people don't give him a chance. He has never been given a fair chance in his whole life. So that's why he's staying down under. To avoid disappointments in further relations with people. "

" But what happened? Did he kidnap you?"  
" That's what they say. "  
" Who?"  
" All of them, because they have been listening to my mother. Demeter keeps pushing this kidnap story, mostly because she refuses to see that I've grown up. I'm not mama's little girl anymore. Chaos, I haven't been that for the last 500 years or so. "  
" So what did happen then?"  
" Let's just say I ran away from home…" Persephone began.

¤¨¤¨¤ _Persephone's tale _¤¨¤¨¤

" Persephone! Look at what you are doing!" Demeter was scolding. "You are dragging in dirt all over the house again."  
" Yeah, so what," I snapped at my mother. "You're the goddess of agriculture, you should really be used to dirt. "  
" Yes I am! Still I don't want my house – our house – looking like a dump. "  
" Well since you keep me working in the garden all the time I do get dirty! "  
" It's not like you cannot brush off your feet and wash your hands, daughter."  
" It's not like you cannot ask the nymphs to do this kind of work."

" How many times have I told you that you need to learn this business if you are to become a garden goddess."  
"And what if I don't want to be a garden goddess, what if I'm sick of all this? "  
" Don't be ungrateful for everything I've learned you. This garden, these flowers are…"  
" You can stick your flowers where they belong!"  
" Persephone! You do not speak to your mother like that!"

" Yes I do! You're a miserable knows-it-all who think you can run my life and decide what I should do with my future just because I'm your daughter and…"  
" That's it! You're grounded from now on and a fortnight further. No trips with your nymphs, you stay at home and take care of the cherries and the red lilies. "  
" But I'm going with the Oceanides to the Aegean…"  
" Forget it! That trip is off now!"  
" Mum…"  
" You heard me! Now go clean up after yourself! "

It was nearly dark outside and a cooling late summer breeze was rushing through the trees, jangling mother's abundance of windchimes. I had cried all the tears I had and then some. Still mother had been relentless, pretending not to hear. She had grounded me all right. What did she think I was? Still her little child? I was 17 for faiths sake. Weren't you considered a grown-up at 17? No, my mother kept holding me in her grip, pretending I was still a little child, treating me like a girl, scolding me for some dirt on the floor or a shattered pot. As if she didn't have an outhouse filled with pots of all kinds and sizes?

I was sick of this now. Sick of her! I had been looking forward to the trip to the ocean, to get away from Olympos and it's all too well known golden cobblestones, pretty gardens and grand villas. But mother had forbade me to go. Just because some dirt on the floor! So now what?

I could always talk to dad. The great Zeus. Living in his palace with Hera I hardly saw him, and I knew that he didn't particularly care about another girl he had breeded being drunk on that malt-brew we used to enjoy before Dionysos invented wine. On the other hand he could as well overrule mother just for the heck of it. Zeus loved to show that he was the top shot, and back then he often overruled the other gods' decisions just to put them in place. If I could use that against mum! If I could get my father to allow me to go to the sea in spite of what mum had said earlier? Yes, that was what I intended to do!

Before I knew it I had jumped out of the window and was running away heading for the Palace of the Royal Couple. That I was bare-foot and only dressed in a leisurewear tunic didn't bother me at that time. I was just intending to sneak into Zeus' office and wait there until my father arrived. Then I could ask him about going to the sea. How to put my words was something I was going to figure out on the way, I thought.

Half-way up to the Palace my reveres became interrupted. I was stopped in my track by high-pitched screams mixed with laughter bordering on hysterical. Nymphs? Now, what were these bimbos up to? I glanced over a shoulder – in the absolute last moment, seeing a trio of nymphs in less than decent clothing coming running at me. But it wasn't the nymphs that made me drop my jaw. It was what came after them.

It was a huge man on a chariot. Huge, dark and clad in black, studded and tight-fitting leather. A god I had never seen before. But that wasn't the worst thing, it was the horses pulling the chariot. They were headless.  
" Faith!" I whispered as the stranger in the chariot drove by. "What in Heaven and on Earth was that?"

I forgot "beneath the Earth". That was the last time I was going to forget that. I watched the chariot with the dark god and his nightmarish horses disappear around a curve, one of the wheels skidding against the cobblestones and sending out red sparkles. After collecting my impressions I resumed my walk up to the Palace. Only to meet the stranger god again at the intersection near the Silver Bridge, the only bridge over the Singing River at that time. The chariot had stopped and the dark man was leaned against its right side, arms crossed and with a smug look in his angular yet handsome face, his lips in a sarcastic curve.

" In for a ride, sweetie?" he asked.  
" Don't think so," I replied looking at the horses – which suddenly seemed to have grown heads, with which they graced the grass with good appetite.  
" You don't?" The stranger rose an eye-brow.  
" No, I do not. I'm on my way to the Palace."

" Ran away from home, did you?"  
" What do you know… that's none of your business," I spat.  
" Well I'm going to the palace too, and I bet I'll get you there faster than if you walk. "  
" Oh, I can fly as well?"  
" And give away to your mother that you are out of your room? She'll sense your divine powers as soon as you lift from the ground, cutie. "

How could he know so much about me when I didn't even know his name? I decided to find that out. Later. Now I just shrugged.  
" If she finds out it'll be too late anyhow, because then I'd already talked to Zeus. "  
" Zeus's not in," the stranger said. "He's down at Earth, having turned command over to Hera for the moment. It's her I'm seeing tonight. "

At those words my shoulders sloped. Hera was not going to rule against my mother. No way! She thought every child was the mother's responsibility and she would send me straight back to Demeter's house. Well I could at least have some fun before I went home that night, I decided. And just because I felt the revolution in my chest I turned to the stranger:  
" Okay, give me a ride then! "

That became the words which changed my life. Hades, who introduced himself along the ride, took me to the Palace and I got to wait when he went in and saw Hera. I spent the time talking to Helios who exited the large doors just a minute after Hades had entered them. Back then Helios was just an adolescent, having recently left his father Hyperion's pantheon to come and work for Zeus. Helios seemed kind, sweet – and a bit of a bore. So when Hades returned I was glad that he didn't want to linger.

At midnight he returned me home, lending me a black helmet.  
" With this one you'll be invisible to your mother. She won't notice your divine powers but go on sleeping. Same time tomorrow?"  
" Same time tomorrow," I heard myself reply.

The next day I couldn't wait for it to become evening so I could use Hades' helmet and sneak out for another ride. And the night after we did the same thing and the next again. On the fifth night Hades kissed me good night and on the seventh or the eight night we laid together for the first time.

Then I was beginning to fear. I knew Hades well enough at that time to having learned everything about who he was and where he lived. I was scared and attracted to him at the same time. And most of all I feared what mother would do if she found out. She would probably ground me for over a year. Now it would not help pleading with Zeus, he would not like it that I had given myself to his old brother in arms. Thus Hades and I came up with a plan. I was going to sneak with him down under and then he would approach Zeus when the fact was made and I was already living with him down there. Because at that moment I didn't care where I went, I just wanted to get away from mother. So head over heels I grabbed my most necessary items and left with Hades.

Only later when I came down to his pale and dull kingdom did I regret it. Then it was already too late and the great steel gates had already slammed shut behind us. I cried and begged for him to let me up again, but he was as relentless as Demeter had been.  
" What are you, a spoiled brat?" Hades snapped back at me. "You didn't want to stay with your mother at the lofty Olympos, and now my kingdom is not good enough for you! What is it really you want, girl? "

" I refused to be called 'girl' by you, your ugly old fart!"  
" Then stop behave like one then. Shut up and make up your mind, and then we can talk about it. But rest assure that if you return to Demeter she will never let you out of her sight again. You will be chained to her home like a dog, pretty one. "

I didn't like Hades' allegory because it struck me as frightening literal. So I sat down in one of the few windows in Hades' dark palace looking at the swirling colourless mists out there. Little did I knew that Helios had seen me and Hades driving off that night which felt like eons ago and that he had gone straight to Hera with his gossip. She in turn had told both my parents.

Two nights later I had sort of made up my mind and I asked Hades:  
" Will you also chain me to your house like that ugly dog you keep?"  
" Cerberos isn't ugly," was the only reply I got from him before Zeus stormed through the realms, followed by both Hera and my mother. He ripped up the texture of reality so the Earth shook, the sun flared and the planets swayed in their banes. And the divine chaos was none the lesser. I really thought mother and Hades were going to kill each other right on spot. What an irony, right in the middle of the realm of the death.

But it became Zeus who settled it as usual. After all there's a reason he is the king. He came up with this half year and commuting idea. Oddly enough both mother and Hades seemed to accept it and I was so taken aback that I didn't figure out how to protest. And later on I didn't even know how to protest. What to figure out instead? Going to Earth or something similarly stupid and then loath every minute of it?

Hera had brought one of her magic pomegranates and upon that we had sealed our fate. She cut it in four and gave a quarter to each of us. And by eating those, Zeus, Hades, mother and I had promised to keep the pact and letting me stay half the year down at Hades' place and the other half at Olympos.

It's not really a bad thing these days. Mother soon let me move to a house on my own and nowadays we cooperate very well with her gardens. Then Hades and I found love in an odd way, just by being together and talking our tongues tired.


	13. Being wed

**Being wed**

With Persephone back up Demeter soon came out of her depression, and started to work the nature again, and soon everything was growing and blossoming, summer returning to Earth. Ariadne spent quite some time with Persephone, Auxesia and Karpo, learning everything about growth, fruit, vegetables, berries, herbs and spices. Most of these things she had taken more or less for granted as a mortal were things that has not been around for more than some millennia or less, developed by Demeter and her co-workers.

There were things growing in Demeter's gardens that had been created by the other gods as well. Dionysos had invented wine of course and Athena the olives. Then Zeus had given them strawberries – a gift to Hera originally and Hera in turn had invented the pommegranate. Artemis had created plums because she wanted something that went well with gose.

Still most came from Demeter and her trio of co-workers. There were cloudberries, gooseberries, blueberries, raspberries and cherries which Persephone had created, Karpo had created oranges, peaches, lemons, bananas (they had started as a dirty joke first to be honest) and avocados and Auxesia had contributed to the plethora with tomatoes, paprika, onion, garlic, peas, cucumber, (another silly joke) and other goodies. Then there were some gifts from other pantheons, like kiwis, tea, pineapples, coffee-beans, papayas and coconuts. And Ariadne did her one and only try in that area by inventing the cranberry, which Persephone spit out directly, going:  
" Do it again, do it right!"

Karpo had supported her on the other hand:  
"I think you can learn to like it! Remember the lemons! Those were considered a failure, at first. Before Poseidon used their sauce over fish. And how many did really like your figs? I mean really, I still can't stand them."  
"Then I think we're even, Karpo, I still loath the dates", Persephone stated.  
"Then there's the carrots," Auxesia made a face. "I still think these ought to have been sent back to the drawing board. "  
"Don't tell that to mum," Persephone warned her. "She loves them! Made me eat them all the time when I was a kiddo. "  
"You too!" Ariande laughed. "Seems like the divine realm and the mortal world isn't that different after all. "

Demeter was more occupied with the various kinds of crops – things that weren't only the raw material for delicacies but also kept starvation at bay among the mortals. And in her spare time she was experimenting with flowers – roses mostly. She was so different this time of year, happy and joyous, walking around in the gardens and singing. It was amazing how much the presence of her daughter could do.

"It's not only Persephone, I think", Artemis said one day when she came over to discuss cooking. "It's pride."  
"Pride?" Ariadne echoed.  
"Yeah, pride. Demeter lost the battle against Hades that autumn for so many years ago. And every time Persephone goes down under again she is reminded of her defeat and that makes her depressed. You know, we're a proud and stubborn lot, we Olympians. We hate to lose and it can grate at our mind for a long time. Poseidon's still not over that Athena won the Attica area from him once. "  
"Was it ever his?"  
"No, but he thinks it was", the goddess of hunt stated frankly.

"But what happens if two gods start to fight over an area?" Ariadne asked. "And none want to give in?"  
"Then Zeus usually has to step in and solve the problem. He is one of the few, perhaps the only one all of us respect and are willing to hand over judgement to. "

0000000

Then one of those wonderful, sunny days Ariadne finally got to wed her beloved Dionysos. The waiting had been essential, there were much preparations to do. Invitations had gone out to gods and goddesses all over the world, an abundance of marvellous food had been sampled and prepared, the Garden Arena had been decorated and Apollo and the muses had prepared the nights entertainment.

Everything had been overseen by the skilled Hera, guardian of marriage. Now she was helping Ariadne with the last touch to the latter's bridal outfit. Ariadne's hair had been made with a beautiful tiara with emeralds complimenting her eyes, a gift from the talented Hephaestos. White lilies and pink roses competed with the gemstones, and the feather-light dress Ariadne wore looked like spun mist, shimmering with gems attached like drops of dew.

" It really shows a lot", she pointed out to Hera.  
" Don't be shy", the queen smiled. "It's modest enough, in the world of immortals. You have beautiful shapes that should be hinted at trough the glittering fabric. Enough display to make your husband dizzy; enough hide to trigger his fantasies. "  
" It's not like he hasn't seen me naked before, Hera. "

" I know that. But the wedding night is still a special one. It rises men more than ever, and the right clothes heightens the experience. Zeus had seen me naked for more than a century before we became wed, but still he could hardly restrain himself from tearing my veils and skirts apart. "

Then Hera got something else in her eyes, like she was looking inside her mind, searching for a memory far far back in time. And Ariadne felt sorry for the queen who's own marriage was betrayed all the time. She could only hope that Dionysos hadn't inherited that trait from his father.

Out in the middle of the sunlit arena Dionysos was waiting for his bride, together with Zeus who was going to wed them. Dion was wearing red, the colour of love, ivy decorated his hair and gold adorned his bare arms. He was more than handsome that day, and Ariadne realized that it wasn't only gods who got aroused by seeing their mate dressed up for true marriage. Ariadne really wanted to sneak-peak beneath that tight-fitting tunic, although she already knew well what it was hiding.

Yet she was also aware of the gods and goddesses in the arena going "Ahh" and "Ohh" as she entered together with her attendance of nymphs. Among those bridesmaids were well known names like Mirba, Lori, Bermessa, Sindra and Noli as well as newcomers, like Rani and Nidi walking first and playing the flutes. All of them were dressed in rainbow coloured dresses, making Ariadne's pristine white stand out like a shining star.

The Arena lacked roof, it was open to the skies, and it's snow-white marble pillars carried nothing but shimmering glass orbs. Upon nine of those orbs, every second that was, the muses were posed. And they soon picked up the rhythm and harmony of Rani and Nidi, echoing back and increasing the richness of the music, making it sounding fuller, more resonant and even more beautiful.

The gods sitting nearest to the procession started to throw rose petals at the bridal procession, or letting loose estelli who began to dace above and around Ariadne, soon picking up the pace of the music. There were even some foreign estelli, tiny ones which unlike the silver estelli of Olympos held all kinds of colours. These soon formed a rainbow spanning over the bride. The estelli were followed by white dowes – the birds of love, courtecy of Aphrodite herself.

_I can't believe this is happening_, Ariadne thought to herself, as she felt tears of joy and other strong emotions sting her eyes. Less than a year ago she had still been living in the palace of Knossos, knowing almost nothing of the world outside, nothing of Athenian adventurers or desolate coasts. Back then the gods had only been strange and somehow fearsome beings on the border of reality, hardly considered while you went on with your everyday life.

Then she had come here, and after the first weeks of awe she had begun to take this place and its inhibitors for granted. She had started to make friends: Artemis, Athena, Hermes, Herakles, the Muses – even old Silenius with his dirty jokes. And it had felt less and less strange to talk with the King of Gods over a breakfast in the sun on the palace terrace or bumping into some faraway divine visitor with strange skin colour.

Yet now Zeus looked awesome again, dressed in togas whiter than snow and the deepest purple and carrying a crown that looked like it was made out of pure light. The King looked grander and more impressive than Ariadne had ever seen him – the way she knew mortals pictured him. At the same time he was far from frightening, Zeus was radiating love, care and affection. These days Ariadne knew that it was those forces that held Olympos together more than anything else.

When Ariadne entered the golden circle of truth, leavinf the bridesmades kneelig outside, Zeus was the one who took her white hand and placed it in the palm of her beloved.

" I give to thee, Dionysos, Ariadne as a bride", Zeus said, his deep voice booming all over the arena, yet not hurting hers or anyone else's ears. "I give to thee, Ariadne, Dionysos as a groom, the king went on. May you both watch over and take care of each other. May you be lucky in receiving love, trust and compassion. And may you share happiness to double it as well as share sorrow to half it."

" Will you enter this marriage?" Zeus had turned to his son.  
" Yes I do!" Dion had answered, his voice ringing loud and clear and almost as strong as Zeus' had done.  
" Yes I do!" Ariadne echoed, fearing that her voice would crack by emotions, but it had sounded as clear as the men's. "I come to thee, Dionysos as your wife, to honour and love."  
" I come to thee, Ariadne as your husband to honour and love," Dion had replied.  
By the power of my office and with the gathered deities as witnesses I declare you wed as wife and husband," Zeus had finished the ceremony.

Then, to the cheering of the crowd, Dionysos had taken her in his arms and kissed her.  
" Now you're mine for real Ariadne beloved", he had said when their lips had parted.  
" And you're mine, Dion. And nothing will ever tear us apart", she whispered back looking at his lovely face.


	14. Big time party

_Wow - I've been busy! Two chapters at a time. But that's mostly because they are so intime tied together._

**

* * *

**

Big time party

When all the gods left the Arena to form the start of a procession up to the palace of Zeus, Ariadne had thrown away her bridal bouquet. She guessed she had wanted Artemis to catch it or maybe Athena, they both needed love in their lives, but it was Hera's teenage daughter Hebe whose slender, white hand had reached up and clutched the flowers.

Then came the banquet. The mother of all parties.

- We'll sure give people something to talk about, Hera had promised. And the queen had been right. There had been so much food served that Ariadne didn't know half of the dishes, all washed down with the best of her husband's seasoned wines.

There had been entertainment, not only by Apollo and his muses but also by gods and goddesses from far away. Songs had been sung in alien languages, strange rhythms had been drummed and odd instruments had been played. There had been goddesses dark as the night, almost naked and with long braided air who had danced like crazy. They had soon dragged the men into the dance and then women had followed. Ariadne had felt that the rhythm had somewhat altered her mind, made it possible for her blood to sing and her senses to be aware of all kinds of supernatural things.

She had received stories in her head, stories of the faraway continent where the dark deities came from. Stories of blood and war but also of otherworldly beauty, love and friendship. And she had danced until sweat had broken out beneath her thin bridal dress, knowing that a mortal would have fainted after just one tenth of the same effort.

Then when she finally had sat down, with Dion's arm around her panting waist, the floor had been taken by two male gods with golden skin and oddly angled eyes. They had performed a mock-fight with sharp, curved blades, dancing in the air and running upside down in the ceiling, every movement so fine tuned that it became the very essence of perfection.

In the end one of the gods had landed on the floor, lifting his blade in the air so that divine light shone off it, casting reflections all over the hall. The other god had left his place with a somersault and ended upside-down balancing his blade on the tip of the one belonging to the former god, becoming a perfect mirror image of him. At that time the jangling music had stopped and all the gods had busted out in exclamations.

After them a quite different performance had taken place. A sole goddess with a long, white waterfall of hair and a golden harp had sat down on a ebony stool. Slowly she had begun drumming on her instrument, conjuring op beautiful tunes, not far from Apollo's perfection.  
"I'm Meda," she said. "And I begin to sing the song of Deidaron and Ashtela."

Then she had sung the saddest of epics. Two lovers from rivalling families fighting to keep their love alive. But in the end they had died, a misunderstanding had led Ashtela to believe Deidaron was dead and she had killed herself, Deidaron reaching Ashtela just in time to see the light wink out in her eyes. Then he had taken his dagger, stabbing himself to death.

Ariadne had cried when Meda stopped her song, and she was far from the only one.  
" Not an appropriate song for a wedding", one of the black goddesses had pointed out, but others had hushed her.

Next performance had been more heartily, it had been Hestia playing with fire, turning the divine flames into little men and animals interacting with each other or into beautiful abstract patterns surrounding the gathering. Once again there had been "aahs" and "oohs" because it was only Hestia who could conjure up flames straight as rods or turning them into written messages. When Ariadne had received a burning rose complete with stalk and leaves she really felt what it meant to be a goddess.

A god called Brage, from the Norse pantheon of Valhalla had also been a singer, but his songs were of quite a different kind. Slapsticks and dirty jokes which had the audience fit with laughter instead. He was followed by Aegypti twins with trained cats riding chariots and playing with balls. A blue god from India had showed how sleek he was in turning himself into various animals and other beings and then back to himself again.

In the end he turned himself into a mist and promised the one who caught him that the deity could ask him of anything he/she wanted. A lot of gods had started to run around the hall, chasing the glittering blue cloud, spilling wine and tumbling furniture in their wake. It became Aphrodite who managed to catch him, by tricking him into an amphora and putting a cork in it. It wasn't really that hard to guess what she would ask the god to give her, Ariadne could hear Hermes joke about it as Aphrodite with a smug look put the still corked amphora inside her gem-studded girdle.

A dark haired goddess named Astarte was next out, she recited the joys of marriage with an enchanting voice, conjuring up pictures of erotic bliss in Ariadne's mind that made her wet between her legs, and suddenly she wanted this whole event to stop right now right there, so she could ran off with Dion to try it all out. She glanced sideways, at her husband, and wasn't he a little red-cheeked too, with both hands covering what was going on between his legs. Same thing with Herakles apparently, who was sitting to the left of her. Poor men, they were never able to hide it.

Then Apollo and the muses begun to play and now the dancing started for real. According to tradition Dion asked Ariadne up for the first dance, and although she had been a bit nervous, she had enjoyed the swirls with her new husband over the golden floor, hearts and stars of divine fire and sparking estelli following them around. Apollo had started out rather slow, so they could perform gracious movements, mocking lovemaking on the floor.

Then the muses had started to drum and the beat became faster and changed theme, The Bridal Dance dance was over and now more and more gods and goddesses entered the floor, and suddenly a long snake was forming, where each one took his or her neighbours hand and started to dance along first around the room and then out at the terrace and off in the air. Like a living cord they had spun trough the skies, shattering clouds and scaring birds in their way.

Apollo and the muses followed along providing music to this novelty way of dancing. Novelty to Ariadne at least who never had experienced something similar. The yellow gods of Sina had stopped somewhere along the way and instead created something they called fireworks – light displays that not even Hestia could match, to bangs similar to Zeus' thunderclaps.

Then more dancing, both indoors and outdoors. Ariadne had to dance with almost all the male gods there were, not only the Olympians but also with faraway gods with strange names. Gods who couldn't believe their ears when she told she had been mortal less than a year ago.  
" Your Zeus can do amazing stuff", Osiris, a bald, Aegypti god had said and kissed Ariadne's hand. I would never have guessed, hadn't my sister Isis told me.

Ariadne had danced until Eos left the gathering to trigger the first pink of dawn. At that time the young goddess realized she wasn't really tired but she was experiencing a kind of sensory overload and the need to rest. As soon as she came to that conclusion Dionysos had been by her side once again.  
" It's time for us to leave, don't you think so", he whispered in her ear. The night is almost over and you and I need to hail each other the way a bride and groom ought to.

So to the cheering of the crowd they had taken off in the air and out over the seaNot far from Olympos rose a sole stone island, high and sleek, almost like a black pillar. On top of that rise a nest was built. A bridal bed made of ebony and gold and with a roof of silk. Windchimes and roses. Nectar and ambrosia in amphoras and trays. And while the sun rose and coloured the sea first dark red, then golden and finally blue Dion and Ariadne had made love for the first time as wife and husband. After that they had fallen asleep in each others arms, not bothering with the fact that it was already morning.

000000000000

" Wake up honey!"

Ariadne had dreamt of Crete again and the palace of Knossos. She had dreamt of her sister Phaedra, that she was the one who married Theseus and Ariadne had been but a spectator, sitting on a beam in the ceiling, looking down at the ceremony. There had been her dad and her mum (although Pasiphae had been dead since many years) and a lot of other people Ariadne had known back then. In her dream she had wondered why she wasn't down there with them but up in ceiling; and she had understood even less when her mother had swirled out on the floor right beneath her – and her dancing partner had been a big, black bull!

Now sweet words were whispered in her ear, interrupting her dream, shaking off the last dusts of sleep. She was facing ocean and skies, lying entangled in silk sheet, and heard the calls of seagulls.  
"Ari?" Soft fingers stroking her shoulders and she turned to face her beloved.  
" Did we really marry, Dion? I mean yesterday. It seems that my dreams are mingling with reality."

" That's because you're learning to remember them fully. You were never able to do that as a mortal. Since this is new to you, I guess you will have a bit hard to tell dreams from reality for a while. Before you master the trick that is."  
" And what is that?"  
" Ask yourself "what do I remember when I look back?" and "are these currents of events connected to earlier memories in a smooth way?" And of course if the events make sense. "

" And if they don't?"  
"Then they are dreams."  
" But what are dreams, Dion? Why do we have them? When I was mortal we were told that the gods sent us the dreams. Who sends us immortals our dreams?"

" We send them to ourselves. As do the mortals most of the time, even if it is true that we gods can contact mortals in their dreams. Anyhow most of the times it's the brains way of sorting and cataloguing impressions. Think of it as putting books into a library in places where you can find them later rather than having them all lying in heaps on the floor in the order you acquired them. That's why we dream. Then, in certain cases, dreams may also contain messages from the future. As well as from the past and dead people."

" So when I dreamt that my sister married Theseus, does that mean it's going to happen?"  
" It might do", Dion cupped his hand over her breast and for a moment Ariadne forgot her dream, then she recalled it again and asked:  
" I saw my mother dance with a big, black bull. What might that mean?"  
" I don't know, beloved. It might just be because you danced quite a bit with the Norse bull god last night."

" It feels more than that. It feels – well Important. "

" Then I guess you might want to find out."  
" True. But not now. Not when you are doing THAT with your hands again..."


	15. The wounded war god

**The wounded war god**

The Asian war had been going on for a good while. Ariadne hadn't paid much attention to it save for the fact that she never saw Athena much these days. She really missed the good-natured and charismatic goddess with her witty comments. Athena who seemed to know the answers to almost everything and who always was kind and helpful when Ariadne had wanted to know and learn new things.

On the other hand Ares was away too. And if there was someone Ariadne didn't miss it was the war god. Ares was usually bad news. He was a brute with a bad temper and it happened quite often that he picked fights with his half brothers and other gods just for fun. Usually the mean Eris joined him with her spiteful tongue but these days Ariadne had learned to disregard the raven-haired goddess. And with Ares gone Eris seemed to have disappeared too.

Then one warm summer morning the Olympic peace and quiet got disturbed by a god in pain.

Dionysos and Ariadne were sitting with some of the gods and goddesses in the garden of the Palace of Zeus, listening to Demeter who talked about orange trees and where they could be grown in the area of Hellas. Ariadne, who loved the sun-tasting fruits was excited at the prospect of growing oranges in the mortals' land. She had just volunteered to follow Demeter and the god Priapos to saw the first trees and teach the mortals about oranges, when suddenly a dark shadow interrupted the gods' conversation.

The large chariot came in on a low trajectory and skidded wildly in the air before it crashed hard on the grass in front of the group, tearing up large holes in the lawn, the black, divine horses seemingly out of control. Ares' horses had the odd quality that they breathed fire, and now one of them sat a small bougainvillea on fire.  
" What the...?" Demeter rose angrily and as the chariot stopped in its tracks, one of the horses rearing wildly.

"It's Ares!" Eos pointed out, as if anyone might have missed it.  
"Ares!" Aphrodite echoed and started to run down the slope to the tumbled-over chariot. From it rose the familiar hulk of the god of war, stumbling over the lawn where the goddess of love met him. After her strode Demeter, looking angry over the ruined greenery.

Something was wrong with Ares, Ariadne could tell. He swayed and seemed disoriented, and he almost fainted in the arms of Aphrodite. Hera had seen that too and she managed to restrain Demeter's anger a bit, before she called up to the gods who had remained seated:  
" Iris! Go fetch Doc Asklepios! And Hermes, you go find Zeus!"  
" What's wrong?" Eos asked while the two messenger gods went obeying their queen.

" Ares is injured, and it's an immortal wound," Hera stated, an edge of motherly worry in her voice.  
" You mean an immortal has wounded Ares? With an immortal weapon?" Eos went on. "But whom..."  
" Ares has a lot of enemies," Priapos stated frankly. "I can imagine quite a few wanting to stab him."  
" Not that many would even get the chanse to go near him," Persephone replied. "Admit it, Pri. Ares might not be the nicest guy around but he is good at what he does. "  
" What can wound an immortal?" Ariadne asked while Aphrodite came carrying up the bleeding god and laid him down on one of the garden benches where Hera had conjured up cushions and a blanket.

" Adamantine," Persephone told. "It's an ancient metal with rare qualities. Very dense, very enduring. Very dangerous. Using Adamantine a god can cut off another god's lifeline sending her down to Hades, making it almost impossible to get her back up again. It takes centuries to cure a lethal adamantine wound even down under. "  
" How can that be?"  
" Because Adamantine qualities in the hand of an immortal who knows its secret, can reach trough the body and hurt the soul as well. Luckily very few gods know about this art these days. Most perished in the Titan wars and are now lost in the realms of Hades, having wandered off in insanity. Not even my husband knows where they are. "

Meanwhile Hera and Aphrodite started to help Ares off with his shining armor, revealing a foul-looking wound just where the ribs ended. Divine blood wasn't crimson as mortals', it held a shining cupper-like hue, almost golden in certain lights. That was because of the ichor cells, the main protectors of the immortal body. And now this cupper fluid was pumping out of Ares' chest in dangerous amounts. A mortal would already be dead at this moment – several times around, Ariadne figured.

Ariadne didn't like Ares the least, still it was frightening sitting there seeing him fighting for his life, breath husky and harsh, sweat covering his pale forehead and wetting the dark locks of his hair.  
" Who could have done it?" Demeter asked. "Who has survived holding this knowledge? Can it be an old enemy to Olympos still lingering out there? A Titan?" Then Ares spoke up, or tried to speak for the first time since arrival.  
" Ahe..." he was saying. "Arh... Akhe..."  
" Akhenaton?" Hera wrinkled her forehead. "You mean it was one of the Aegypti who did this?"  
" No..." Ares said and then he grasped for air and with earth-shaking rage called out a name that made all the gods freeze, the arriving Asklepios, god of medicine, stopping dead in his track.  
" No!" Hera whispered. "That can't be! "

OoOoOo

Almost all of the gods of Olympos were gathered in the large reception hall of the palace of Zeus. The King of Gods sat on his golden throne, flanked by Hera, who still was a bit pale but more held together now than an hour ago when the horrid truth stood clear to the Olympians.

In front of them stood a sole goddess, erect in her stance. Dressed in shining armor, red-crested helmet under her arm and swords on her back, Athena looked like the very essence of stability and invincibility. Still Ariadne could tell by the slight shiver of her lower lip and the blinking of her eyes that Athena felt anything but invincible now, facing the rage of the king of the gods.

" You almost killed Ares, your own brother, Athena." Zeus boomed. No rage was heard, he seemed in total control of his emotions. "You almost became kins-murderer out there on the fields of Garnamara. What have you got to say to your defence, lady of Athens?"

" Several things." Athena's voice rang loud and clear, echoing up against the ceiling, neither she did betray any emotions.  
"- Let's hear them!" Zeus urged.  
" First of all we fought a battle. Ares has tried to win my lands down there for ages, and rather than dealing with it in the court of Olympos; you, allfather, allowed us to fight it out down there. "  
" Using your mortal soldiers," Zeus said. "That was the rule, you were not to fight each other. "

" Let me finish," Athena pleaded. "Ares saw that he was losing so he gave up commanding position and started to engage down in the battlefield himself. Killing and maiming to the left and to the right since there was no one who could stand up against him, a god. Cheating - just like a little kid throwing over the checkers board. To stop the slaughter I had to step in myself and hinder him. He changed the rules, not I. Finally, that wound was not lethal. I made sure of that. It stopped Ares, scared him, made him flee back to Olympos because he _thought_ he was dying. Still I know enough of the immortal human body to maim without killing. Asklepios can testify to that. "

" Did anyone see this happen?" Hera asked. "Any immortal that is. Unfortunately mortal's testimonies seem to be a bit biased to the god or the goddess they follow. "  
" I saw it," Helios stepped forwards. "I was controlling the weather down there, making sure the sun shone from a cloudless sky according to your ruling, great Zeus! I saw that it occurred as Athena said. "

"In the aspect of Ares involving himself in the battle, I believe you" Zeus said. "But what did you see of Athena's and Ares' fight? Is it true, as Athena said, that she restrained herself when striking out at Ares?"

Athena looked hopefully at Helios, but the sun god seemed to hesitate. And Aphrodite cut in:  
" Of course he cannot say that! Helios saw the event from a distance, and he knows nothing about war. "  
" I... Helios started", but Hera cut him off:  
" Aphrodite is right, thank you Helios, you may sit down. "

" Too bad it wasn't Apollo working on the sunshine today," Dionysos whispered to Ariadne. "He would never fail Athena. "

"So Ares changed the rules during the game", Zeus said. "That was wrong of him. But you Athena – you weren't any better, you should have abided and gone get the Olympic court, having us putting a stop to this."  
" And meanwhile Ares would've ended more mortal lives in vain," Athena replied. "I couldn't let that happen. "  
" They were soldiers", Zeus said, "They know death could be waiting for them, either in that battle or in the next or in the next."  
" But that death should come man to man, mortal to mortal", Athena said. "Not in a pointless slaughter by an insane god. There has to be rules to war and death too. "

"- Never mind the soldiers now", Hera said, "how are we to believe that you knew you were not killing Ares down there?  
" As I already told..." Athena started but Aphrodite cut her off:  
" That's what you say, yeah. But you're probably just lying to save your skin."  
" I'm not lying!" Athena replied, and now there was a trace of desperation showing in her contralto voice. Not even the held-together Athena could stand all these accusations. "Asklepios, she called out. You know that the wound was not lethal. "

" That could be pure luck," Aphrodite said before the god of medicine could utter a word.  
" That it could," said Zeus. "Let's hear Ares now!"  
" Asklepios!" Athena called out.  
" Sit down, Athena," Zeus ordered. "Asklepios have already testified that the wound was not lethal. "

Athena bowed slightly and went to sit beside Artemis. The goddess of hunt cast a look at her sister, something sad in her eyes.  
" What might happen?" Ariadne asked her husband.  
" Athena might face a ban. She might be sent away from Olympos for a certain time span. "  
" What does that mean? "  
" That she can't partake in the divine gathering for that period of time, which can be anything from a year to a century. And no god or goddess is allowed to visit her or communicate with her. Ask Poseidon and Apollo, they had to suffer that punishment once for betraying Olympos, almost letting it fall in enemy hands. 35 years they had to stay away and during that time they had to build walls to protect the city of Troy. "

At the same time Ares had taken the floor and started to tell his side of the story. But he wasn't half as well spoken as Athena, he kept calling his sister names and telling everybody how brave he had been. Should he – the brave champion of Olympos have to suffer the embarrassment of having his sister pushing her little dagger trough his chest?

At those words Athena bate faster than a hungry shark:  
" My little dagger, you said Ares? My little dagger? You mean my little dagger almost killed "the brave champion of Olympos"? Or did it just scare you to death? "  
" You don't scare me, Athena," Ares snarled.  
" I don't? Not even with my daggers?"

" No way!"  
" So it was just an act then, all this ichor you spilled and all this screaming and yelling? Athena was standing akimbo, glaring at her brother, blue eyes turning dark as thunderclouds. "  
" No! Ares started. I mean... "

At that moment Hera leaned over and whispered something to Zeus who let up his voice:  
" All right, both of you! Asklepios did testify that the wound was not lethal. But I don't think it was just acting from Ares' side. He got hurt all right. That chest wound was shallow, bleeding a lot, but that might as well have been his own doing. The injury was elsewhere, Athena's blade stabbed his pride. That hurts, but it's hardly lethal."

" Dad!" Ares protested "You saw the wound, you know it must hurt."  
" Now what shall it be," Hera replied, "did Athena hurt you or did she not with her "daggers" as you call them. "  
" She did..."  
" What?"  
" She..."

" Oh, stop it!" Zeus said. "I have more important things to do than listen to this whining from you Ares. You break the rules you have to stand some spanking. Now, this is my ruling: Ares, you have already received your punishment for breaking the rules. However you Athena – you are not to involve yourself in the war of Garnamara anymore. "

" Then I'll lose it!" the goddess objected.  
" You might and you might not," Zeus said. "Still it seems that the generals you trained may have enough skill and guts in them to defeat even an army led by Ares. "  
" So I'm grounded?"  
" When it comes to Garnamara yes."

" Okay!" Athena bowed, accepting her father's ruling. But Ares kept protesting until Zeus threatened to ground him from Garnamara too. Then he put on his helmet and left, long strides out of the hall. Artemis came up to Athena, hugged her and said.  
" Forget about Garnamara, sis! It's only desserts and rocks anyway. Stay here and relax instead! You've got friends and kins who have missed you during your long absence. "


	16. Nightmares

**Nightmares**

**"**It was that dream again, Dion," Ariadne sobbed and clung to her husband, sheets tangled and wet with her perspiration. Dionysos held her, comforted her with gentle touches and kissed her tenderly, chasing the lingering ghosts away. The night was fading, the deep blue that forebode the dawn was painting the sky outside the winows and the stars were winking out.  
"The one with your mother? And that bull?"  
"Uh-hu."  
"Dearest, you should not be haunted that way; we need to get you help. The god Morpheus is a dream expert, we'll get in touch with him first thing in the morning. "

That was easier said than done, though. The dream god was not at home and nowhere to be found at Olympos, and neither did he answer his distant-calls in spite of Dionysos using best sight bowl. A sight-bowl was the preeminent tool for immortals to locate and communicate with each others over long distances. Mirrors and other shiny objects worked well too, even if they didn't have the same accuracy as a bowl filled with water.  
"He has 'hung up', the old jerk," Dion snarled after a morning of failed attempt.

"Hung up?" Ariadne looked puzzled.  
""As in 'Hung up his sight mirror with the surface facing the wall'. An old expression. Means he doesn't want to be disturbed. "  
"But..."  
"No worries, we'll go talk to Hermes."

Hermes' L-shaped two-store villa was located south-east of Dionysos' and Ariadne's home, posted on the very edge of the mountain summit. The messenger god loved to throw himself out in the air right from his balcony and free-dive several hundred meters before he flew away on one of his many errands. And as usual, when he was home he was using his sight-bowl, so Ariadne and Dion had to wait while he finished talking to Nemesis and then while he called Zeus to let him know that Nemesis was coming home tonight, mission completed and successful.

"We need to get hold on Morpheus", Dion told as soon as the mandatory pleasantries were done.  
"He's busy", Hermes told. "I'm sorry, but dad sent him on an undercover mission as late as yesterday. So he's wearing the Incommunicado Cloak. Only dad and I can contact him. "  
"How long will he be away?" Ariadne asked.  
"Hard to say", the messenger god replied. "Can be anything from a week to a year."  
"A year! Am I supposed to fear the return of my nightmare for a year?"

Hermes seemed to think it over for a while, wrinkling his freckled forehead and pushing a slender hand trough already unruly carrot-coloured curls and then he said:  
"I've been daubing a bit with dreams myself; perhaps I can help you, Ari. Tell me your nightmare!"  
"Well, it starts off a bit different all the time, different and pretty normal for immortal dreaming. But it always brings me back to Crete one way or another and then I know what there is to come and it scares the sanity out of me. I dream about my late mother, Pasiphae. In my dream she is young and she's running over a meadow, fear plastered to her face. First I can't see what is wrong, and I try to speak to her, but she doesn't hear me. Then I see that there is a large black bull following her. And when he catches up with her he rams her with his great horns, nails her to the ground and rapes her. "

Hermes let out a curse while Ariadne stopped to catch her breath.  
"Next thing I'm in the palace watching my mother giving birth to the fruit of the rape. It's dark outside, late in the night and a storm is raging. Mother is in pain, terrible pain, because the baby is too big for her. Then I see the child being helped out of her by the midwives "and it's... it's terrible! My poor mother is giving birth to the minotaur. And it kills her! Ariadne began to sob again; the dream is fearsome even here in Hermes' sunny office."  
"Can you help her get rid of that dream, brother?" Dion pleaded.

"Not me, because that is not a dream, it's a message. It's your mother trying to contact you."  
"But my mother is dead; she died in child-birth when I was eleven. The child was posed wrong in her belly and could not be birthed. It was still-born. Would've been a brother to me. "  
"Yes, but she is trying to reach you through the dimensions."  
"From the Hades?"  
"Yes, from the Hades," Hermes confirmed. "That's why the dream is so discomforting and strange. She does not really know how to reach you and the reception is bad. There's a way around that, but I'm not the god for it. "

"Then who is?" Ariadne wanted to know.  
"Hecate. And lucky for you, she's at home. She's even awake at this early hour."  
"Early hour? You're kidding, it's way past noon!"  
"A quarter to one, to be more exact", Hermes smiled. "But Hecate seldom rises before 3 o clock in the afternoon. She's such a creature of the night. "  
"That explains why I never see her around save for in the evenings," Ariadne couldn't help smiling in spite of her troubled feeling. "Are we going there now?" she turned to the men.  
"Of course we are" Dion said and rose.  
"Hey, I think..." Hermes started, but he was not heard.

"Okay, I'll come with you guys instead", The messenger god sighed. "She has quite a temper in the mornings, the daughter of Nyx. Or at least what passes for mornings for her."

Once again Ariadne found herself knocking on the door of a divine home. Hecate's yellow house looked small for Olympic standards, with a trim garden outside and dark-brown blinds closed against the bright summer sun. A gray-stroked black cat was napping on the front porch and looked up with one eye when the three gods arrived. Apparently they were not interesting enough because the cat went back to rest immediately.  
"She has quite a cellar though", Hermes told.  
"What does she keep there?" Ariadne asked.  
"Oh, stuff... You'll see. I guess."

OOOO

Hecate didn't seem half as spooky in daytime as in the evenings, only pale and a bit sleepy-looking, like she wanted to crawl back into bed again. The room rested in semi-darkness because of the closed blinds, the only light came from a tiny flame of divine light in a lantern hanging over a table and an half-open door to the back-yard. It smelled heavy of incense and some sweet flowers Ariadne couldn't identify.  
"Cursed cat woke me up," Hecate complained, "was tipping over the pots in the kitchen. I've told the nymphs to... Never mind, how can I help you lot?"  
"Oh, it's only I who need help really", Ariadne said. "The others are just tagging along. I keep having this dream which seems to be a message from my late mother. "

Ariadne told her dream once again, and when she was done Hecate remained sitting so long with closed eyes that Ariadne feared the pale goddess had fallen asleep, but then she sighed, pushing back curls of jet-black hair behind her ears, dark eyes regarding the Cretan goddess beneath long lashes.  
"These messages are usually hard ones, seems like the mortal is scared, and that's why she scares you, Ariadne. Perhaps the threat of the Minotaur is not over yet. "

"But Theseus killed it", Ariadne protested.  
"Daughter of Minos, usually things are more complicated than that. When your average hero just sees a beast to kill, like a Minotaur or a Medusa, there's usually more than what meets the eyes. Ancient magic created those monsters once and ancient magic is still surrounding them. It might remain there long after the beast is dead. Apollo saw it after slaughtering the Python and used that force for his Delphian oracles. "

"Black magic?" Ariadne asked.  
"No", Hecate shook her head. "There's no such thing as black magic. It's all about how it's used. "  
"What do you mean?" Dionysos involved himself in the conversation. "Sure there's black magic. "  
"No, magic is a force of nature just like gravity. With gravity you might pour a cup of lovely wine, Dion. Or you might drop the same cup to the floor, shattering it. That doesn't make gravity bad or good. It's a neuter and so is magic. "

Dion opened his mouth to argue, but Hermes cut him off, telling him that they had not come to discuss natural science, but to help Ariadne with her dream message.  
"Then we need to get hold of Pasiphae's spirit for a while, so we can ask her what does not go through in those nightmares", Hecate stated.  
"Can you do that?" Ariadne beamed up.  
"Yes. It's more or less the same technique as sight-bowls, although a bit more complicated since we have to reach the dimensions beyond. First of all we need to know the way Pasiphae took to reach Hades. There, you might be of help, Hermes!"

"How?"  
"You're walking the mortals to Hades, don't you?" Ariadne asked.  
"Another mortal misunderstanding," Hermes replied. "It would be too time-consuming even for me to guide all those souls to Hades. No, I constructed the routes to the ferry stations Charon uses. You see, back in the old days there was no river Styx. So the dead souls just drifted right into Hades, and that was about it, until they had gathered enough energy to reincarnate again. "  
"There was no Styx?" Ariadne rose a surprised brow. "Where did it come from?"

"She. Styx was a goddess who was slaughtered by the Titans and cast down into Tartarus. Zeus managed to help her out from there, but he could not rescue her completely, could not bring her back to Earth. She was too wounded and sort of liquefied down there, turned into a great multidimensional river encircling the Hades. The rivers appearence made it impossible for the mortal souls to reach Hades and continue the natural cycle of life, they all became stuck outside Styx and Zeus feared that it would eventually have lead to a disaster of terrifying magnitude. The dimension would become instable and explode with the pressure of stuck souls, something that might have destroyed a far chunk of the known universe. So my father deployed another unrescuable god "Charon "as a "ferry man" with a kind of raft to take the souls across the Stygian waters. And since it would be impossible for Charon to travel all around the river looking for souls four ferry stations were created and later I made roads leading up to them, so the mortals could find their way wherever they fall down."

"Couldn't they just have followed the river banks then?" Ariadne kept asking  
"No, since they are newly dead they are not yet used to a multi-dimensional universe and would risk getting lost, doubling back on themselves in endless loops and similar sad faiths. I actually found quite a few such poor souls and those I had to guide down to the nearest ferry station so they could be taken along by Charon. "  
"But what happens in the Hades? What happens when the Hades get full."  
"It won't."  
"It won't?"  
"No, because life and death for mortals are cyclic as you might have heard. When a soul has stayed in Hades enough time it has ridden itself of enough 'death energy' and the 'life force' becomes more powerful. Thus the souls becomes reincarnated again. Reborn into a new mortal body. "

"Okay," Hecate cut in. "Class is over for time being. I'll need some help here! Hermes, can you clear off that table and then, Ariadne, you and I will lay out this aluminium table cloth. Dion! That big black book over there... no, the other one with all the bookmarks in. Give me that! Open up the chapter named _Rhunes _first though! Then, Hermes, Pasiphae died of child-birth in Crete 7 years ago; may you calculate the route her soul might've taken?"

"_Anzoar, Ayiar, Telmenlamas askertas! __Shirar da kraki del owalo del marnasi vengtor ne a do Haides! Telmenlamas askertas de a lo __Pasiphae__ no Kritai evez." _Hecate was chanting with closed eyes. Her voice had suddenly got powerful and strong, gone was the sleepy goddess who had yawned and stumbled over her cats in the dusky room.  
_"Panalla anyklen usarto no ono na Sutta. Vensera_ _Haides salmalanna asertu glimnir da e lo", _she went on, and Ariadne could feel something strange in the air. Almost like it was thickening. Like before a thunderstorm but in reverse she would describe it later.  
"_Insriba velter manisai a o Pasiphae! Vidar domo poli!"_

_"Ariadne?"_ a familiar voice was suddenly heard.  
"Mother?"  
_"Ariadne where? I called! Did you die too?"  
_"Mother no… no. I am. Not dead. "

Ariadne looked in surprise at the greenish glowing face congealing in the rising vapors from Hecate's bowl. It was Pasiphae. Her mother. And yet not. She was young. And old. And different. Almost like some of her identity had been washed out.

"Talk to her fast, she is hard to hold," Hecate whispered. "No shit-chat, ask her what she wants!"  
"Mother, you keep sending me nightmares. Nightmares about a great bull raping you. And the minotaur. "  
_"Yes, yes, the minotaur. It's… the order must be restored. The Cretan princess. Must go to Athens. To close the process. Or the beast will return. Will be reborn again. And all over. Until the Cretan… princess.  
_"What? Why do I have to go to Athens, mother?"  
_"Marry… Theseus. "  
_"No! I'm already married. To Dionysos. "

_"Princess marry!"  
_"But…"  
_"Or else… Chaos! New bull monster. Bad bull monster. "  
_"Another minotaur you mean?"  
_"Bad-bad. Much worse. Monster. Princess. Cretan Athens…"_

"You want me to go to Athens you mean?"  
_"Don't remember…"_

"I've lost her!" Hecate swore. "Connection is terrible these days. Damn Asian war. Damn Aegypti plague! Too many dying all the time, too much spiritual disturbance! "  
"But what should I do?" Ariadne asked, looking teary-eyed at her beloved Dionysos. I can't…  
"Is there any other Cretan princess?" Hecate asked.  
"Yes, Phaedra. My little sister. But…"  
"That's something for Aphrodite's desk then, the pale goddess stated as the last of the vapor of the sight-bowl disintegrated. "

"So now what?" Dion asked, squeezing Ariadne's hand.  
"Let's go talk with dad," Hermes suggested. "He'll know what to do. It'll probably be a mission for Aphrodite, as Hec said, matching Phaedra with Theseus. Meanwhile, Ariadne, I guess your nightmares will be gone now when Pasiphae has got her message trough."  
"But why was it so fragmented?" Ariadne asked. "Both in speech and appearance."  
"The lethe process," Hermes explained. "The cleansing of the soul to prepare for rebirth. It makes her forgetting more and more of her old life and the events taking place in it. In the end she will even forget her language, become a completely empty sheet. "

"I feel so sorry for her. "  
"Don't honey," Dion hugged her. "It's only… only…"  
"Only the natural process," Hermes said. "Nothing we can do about it. Now, let's go see if we can get hold of dad. "


	17. Arachne

**Arachne**

"I feel so restless", Athena suddenly said, slamming down her booted feet down on the marble floor. "These lazy Olympian days are starting to bore me really bad. I want action back in my life. Too bad I cannot lure Ares into another little war. "  
"You mean you liked it out there?" Ariadne asked, looking up from her tries to make an orange flower. The blood and the dead and the terror and the...

"Perhaps one learns to like it", Athena mumbled, beginning to stare at her nails. "No, I mean... I miss the adventure. The surprises. The feeling of waking up in the morning not knowing what they day will bring. All the fast emotions, the whirlstorms of events..."  
"Then come with me hunting, Artemis urged. We can go up north, there's a lot of boars and elks and..."  
"You know I don't like hunting so much," Athena said. "I don't like to hide among the pines, waiting for the game. I don't like to shield from mosquitoes and other bugs and I'm not particularly fond of butching up a killed beast."

"That was just a suggestion", Artemis looking slightly hurt.  
"Nothing wrong with that", Athena replied. "But I guess I'm just craving for something to happen. Since dad grounded me from Garnamara I can only watch it in the sight pool, and that annoys me, seeing the war swaying to and from and knowing I can't do a thing about it. "  
"Let's throw a party then", Persephone suggested. "There's none on until next weekend when it's Aeolos' birthday." Athena made a face, like the very thought of parties bored her too.  
"What do you want to happen then, Thenie? Ariadne asked.

Athena hesitated. Then she got one of her bright ideas:  
"All right, I cannot go to Garmanara, and I guess starting another war is quite out of the question after screwing up the last one. But why don't we go down checking on the mortals? There's always something going on in their realm."  
"Oh, not much happening in Taranargon either", Artemis said." Was down there yesterday and there's more action in a graveyard. "

"Let's go to my Athens then", Athena suggested. "There's a haute couture festival starting the day after tomorrow and meanwhile we can always snoop around disguised as mortals. I need to check on their royal court anyhow. Anyone in?"

Ariadne beamed up with excitement. So she was finally to go to Athens, the hometown of Theseus.  
"I'm coming", she exclaimed and Artemis chimed in. Persephone was less inclined to go. She had work to do in her mother's garden, she told.  
"Always that sense of duty", Artemis mumbled under her breath.

O¤O¤O¤

Athens proved different from Taranargon, larger and more wealthy and diverse. There were merchants from all over the world, and Ariadne got excited when she heard the Cretan dialect spoken by some men in the streets. She turned to see if she knew them but they were strangers, mere sailors, not the kind of people who would have come visiting her father's court.

Since the goddesses were disguised no one took notice of them as they strolled in and out of the shops or stopped to view some street entertainer or another. They listened a while to a pot-bellied little man who told the adventures of Herakles. But they soon had to leave because Artemis was giggling so much that she started to get angry looks from other listeners.

"Oh, the fatto got it all wrong! I never threatened to kill little bro' when he took my sacred deer. "  
"Then what happened?" Ariadne asked.  
"He caught the deer alive all right. And when I in turn caught him he made a deal with me. Some of his magic arrows in return for hiring the deer for a while. So he could go down showing it off to that wimp Eurysteus before returning it unharmed. "

"What if Euresteus had wanted to kill and make a meal out of the deer?" Ariadne asked.  
"Herakles wouldn't let him, because that was not part of the deal. "  
"By the way, did Herakles really kill his family?"  
"Unfortunately yes", Athena confirmed. "But not out of madness. He was drunk after a night on the town and upon returning home he tumbled over the heating stove, setting the house on fire. He managed to save himself but not until it was too late did he remember his family was in there. _Then_ he got mad. "

"Poor Herc", said Ariadne. "He seems so nice. He never found love later?"  
"No, only briefly." Artemis replied. "I don't think he dares to love again, too afraid of loss once more."

When Artemis said that there was something strange in her voice. Like if she knew all about it. Had she also loved and lost, and was that why she too remained alone? Not daring to love again?  
""There's always a second chance", Ariadne said, trying to comfort Artemis for her unuttered sorrow.

Then the goddesses turned a corner and stumbled right into a crowd and some loud commotion.  
"We have a winner!" an old lady on a decorated stage called out. "Young Arachne, come up here! "

To a loud applause a skinny girl about Ariadne's age entered the stage, with blushing cheeks but still something cocky in her green eyes. She was followed by four girls in their late teens, wearing extravagant dresses of yellow silk with applications in black and gold.

"Let's hear it for the best designer in this year's fashion competition! Arachne of the house of Chrysocles!" More cheering as the young girl bowed at the audience.  
"I want to see this!" Athena said, so the treesome stopped in their tracks.  
"Now tell me how you did these dresses, Arachne dear! This is a work worthy of a disciple of Athena herself! "  
"Why not worthy of Athena herself", Arachne replied. At her words a gasp went through the audience.

"Let me tell you ladies and gentlemen", the girl went on, not blushing anymore. "Let me tell you about my work. I've been studying Athena's work all right. Her clothes are fine and worthy of admiration. But aren't they a bit dull, a bit old fashioned? I've taken the best parts of her stuff that's true, but I wanna do my own thing. I wanna make clothes for the woman of tomorrow. Couture like it has never been seen before. I'm here to break the rules, and become famous doing that. "

Some people were cheering at that, others were protesting that she should stop comparing herself to Athena. Ariadne turned to look at her friend. The tall daughter of Zeus had a new shine in her blue eyes, but it was not anger, but excitement and interest.  
"This is what I've been looking for", Athena said. "Someone to break the rules."  
"But she's insulting you", Artemis replied.  
"Yeah, and that takes guts. I want to see what this turns into. If this Arachne can stand up to some insults herself. Watch this, lasses! "

By these words Athena used some divine magic to sneak through the crowds and soon she was entering the stage, still in disguise.  
"I've heard you challenging Athena!" she said, turning to Arachne. "Isn't that a bit over the top for someone who has but graduated the fashion design school? "

"Who are you?" Arachne said to the newcomer.  
"I'm Argmeda of Taranargon, and I've been in this business since before you were born. "  
"Which makes you old", Arachne stated, to more buzz from the crowd. Excitement was growing, Ariadne could sense it in the air.

"So?"  
"So you style is also old fashioned. No offence, but you have been coloured by another time, saturated by the past. I don't carry that burden, I see fashion with new eyes. And I'm gonna redefine it. I'm gonna make stuff you've never seen before. "

"You are well spoken", Athena replied. "And your models wear fancy stuff all right. But let's see if you're up to me! Because you have to get trough me if you're ever going to get near Athena's stuff. Let's parade our models here tomorrow night and let's see if you have what it takes. If you're good enough, I might even accept you as my disciple. "  
"I'm to be no one's disciple," Arachne replied. "People here can testify that I'm already a master. I'm gonna be worldwide, nothing's gonna stop me. "

"I take that as an "aye" – that you're in for the competition tomorrow night," Athena stated.  
"Why should I want to compete against you, old lady? "  
"Oh, are we cowards suddenly. "  
"No, never!"  
"Then it's a deal! Tomorrow night, the best things we have! "

Now the crowd was cheering, applauding and stamping their feet, and Ariadne turned to Artemis:  
"Is she always like this, Thenie?"  
"Of course! Tomorrow's going to be fab. Trust Thenieweenie to bring in her latest and best stuff. And this girl to become a humble wet spot. I feel sorry for her already. "

The next evening the Athens square was even more crowded than the day before. The story had spread about the bold Arachne who had challenged Athena herself, and this stunning beauty from the north who seemed to know everything about the fashion business. Everybody wanted to see what they had to display, discussing what might appear on the catwalk, the wise in challenging Athena and what the outcome might be. There were people holding bets on the outcome and others already bidding for unseen clothes.

Artemis and Ariadne were sitting on top of a warehouse structure together with several mortals. Their divine eyes provided them with a good view in spite of being bit far off.

Melianthe, the old lady from yesterday, entered the stage. She was the headmaster of the fashion design school. Once a stunning beauty and model herself, these days a well aged and elegantly posed lady. She showed a coin and cast it to decide who to begin the display. It became young Arachne.

Her first trio showed summer dresses, made from thin silk and quite revealing. There were some males whistling with appreciation, but it was hard to tell if it was because of clothes or skin. Then came Athena aka Argmeda showing the same kind of dresses, but although hers were not half as revealing they were more flattering to the young Athenians wearing them. Neatly woven in clear and beautiful colours they were made to enhance and enrich the female body, indicating moving hips and slim waists. These dresses weren't met with as much whistles but with applauds of appreciations.  
"Now this is something I can wear", said the buxom woman sitting next to Ariadne.

Then came party dresses. Once again Arachne's samples were very revealing, and she had adorned her work with faux golden sequins and "gemstones" of glass. Her models glittered and sparkled in the sunlight, and the males were whistling again. But there could also be some booing heard.  
"Tacky," someone was saying behind the goddesses.

Athena in turn showed flowing silk, draped veils of semi-transparent lace indicating mystery and excitements to come. Her dresses were mostly snow white, with some primary-coloured accents and looked good together with golden bracelets, ankle rings and necklaces. At the end of the catwalk one of Arachne's models tucked out a foot and almost made one of Athena's models tripping over. Spread booing were heard from those who had seen it.

Then came the last display – weekday dresses. These were actually the hardest to make, because here there were no room for bling or extravaganza, you had to rely on the fabric, the cuts and the colours.

Arachne showed less skin for a change, but her outfits were an explosion of colours and patterns. The models were dancing and spinning making large skirts swirl and waved their hands in the air, showing off wide sleeves. One of the models did a one gracious swirl too much, dropping her net-like veil on the catwalk.

Last but not least Arachne herself came on stage wearing a shining black and skin-tight leather body, giving her skinny body an insect-like appearance. She walked to the very end of the catwalk, stood there and regarded the audience, lifting her hands to the sky, calling:  
"Can this Argmeda match this last achievement of mine? Can even Athena do this you think? Have you ever seen anything like this before? No, you haven't. My name is Arachne and I'm gonna be a star! "

"Enough now, Arachne," Melianthe cut her off, "now make room for Argmeda's last display!"  
"If she dares," Arachne replied.  
"I dare", Athena replied. Now move over, you have had your fifteen minutes of fame!

Then Athena entered the catwalk, followed by her models, all of them wearing nice and convenient peploses, but still with that little extra that made you look twice. A jade brooch here, a mother of pearl application there, and all of them with splendid cuttings. These simplistic dresses were actually the best of Athena's display. Athena herself wore a hooded, crimson cloak, swaying around her body, hinting at hidden beauty.

To this sight people started to applaud and cheer, it was clear who was the winner here today, who was the people's choice. Elegance had won over extreme. Arachne paled at the reaction to her adversary's display, and then she turned, trying to run off the stage. At that moment she tripped over the dropped net veil, fell over and snared herself. And now people were laughing at her instead, even those who just minutes ago had cheered at her tight leather appearance.

When Arachne rose, red in her face and tangled in the white veil even more people started to laugh. At that moment Athena cast off her cloak revealing her real identity to the gasping audience.  
"Great Athena!" Melianthe exclaimed and one of Arachne's models fainted.  
"Yes, it is I", the goddess said. She had grown two inches upon revealing herself, and was showing her magnificent forms clad in one of her own elegant weekday peopleses, which looked almost like being part of her. She pointed at Arachne:

"Look at that spider in her web! I actually did plan to take her as a disciple first. She's gifted and could have been good, but she can't restrain herself. I don't mind being challenged, but I do mind being insulted. New and fresh ideas are always welcome in the fashion business just like everywhere else. Stars might be born over a night. Still getting somewhere takes a humble respect for the art and for the colleagues. Insulting others won't take you anywhere. Now, get up, Arachne, take off the spider outfit and go back to the drawing board. With your clothes as well as with your attitude, and then perhaps you might become someone in the future. "

Finally Athena bowed to the audience:  
"Thanks for coming here today, hope you enjoyed yourself. And my clothes are for sale, under the name of Argmeda, let my models help you! "

Then the goddess seemed to disappear in a cloud of red silk, Ariadne and Artemis being the only ones seeing her leaping over the square and landing beside them on the warehouse that was slowly being evacuated by the mortals.  
"You enjoyed yourself quite a bit there", Artemis said.  
"I sure did", Athena smiled. "Now let's go see what else there is to find around!"


	18. Reencounter with Theseus

**Re-encounter with Theseus**

The Athenian court was nothing like the Cretan. First and foremost there was no royal family to speak of. Theseus was the king of the city-state of Athens with its surroundings, he was unmarried without any heir, and Ariadne was shocked to learn that his only living relative, his old father Aigeus, had killed himself upon receiving the incorrect news that his son had died on Crete.

Theseus lived more or less alone in his residence which was not a palace like the home of the Cretan royal family where Ariadne had grown up. It was more of a fortress, a castle with high, gray walls and mighty, windowless towers surrounded by a deep moat. The big, guarded gate was made to keep enemies out, but kept letting in and out merchants, knights and advisors to the king. There was also a fast-riding messenger on a sweaty, gray horse passing through the gate when Athena, Artemis and Ariadne arrived.

Although the tree goddesses didn't bother with the gate. They flew in over the castle walls disguised as three of the many gulls surrounding the imposing building. Then they sneaked into the royal reception hall where Theseus presided from his throne.

This was the first time Ariadne had seen him in more than a year, and it seemed that the crown was resting heavy upon his head. There were gray streaks among his dark curls and his brow was wrinkled. He wasn't half as handsome as Ariadne remembered him. But he had still this charisma of strength and creativity that had won Ariadne's heart once.

She realized that she had dreaded this encounter. What would she feel upon meeting Theseus again? And how would it affect her relation to Dionysos? Was she really over this mortal king who sat on his throne talking to a bent, white-bearded old gentleman in a red toga.

Athena interrupted her thoughts by starting to point out the people in the room:  
"The man talking to Theseus is his chancellor Diogon, he served Theseus' father Aegeus before him. Next to Diogon stands Alexir, secretary of treasure and Sthenophon, secretary of defence. "

Alexir and Sthenophon were each other's direct opposites, the accountant being tiny and dark with a sour snarl curling thin, colourless lips while the warrior was a large, jovial redhead with an honest and open face. Then there was a young, strong-looking man Ariadne recognized from the boat trip – Propylos.  
"He takes care of the royal stables", Athena explained.

There was also Leudora, Athena's arch priestess, a tall regal-looking woman still carrying traces of lost beauty and some other men and women of minor dignity.

When the goddesses sat down to the left of the throne, invisible for the gathered mortals, Theseus was receiving an emissary from Sparta and they seemed to talk mostly about trade and mining. The discussion was quite boring and Ariadne's eyes suddenly fell on the king's scribe. She was familiar too, it was young Chrysandra, Ariadne's old cabin-mate from the Athenian ship. And she appeared to be pregnant.

Ariadne remembered dreaming that Theseus had taken Chrysandra as his bride, but then the young woman would hardly be working as his scribe while expecting a child. Ariadne made use of her immortal abilities, regarding the foetus in Chrysandra's womb. The child she was expecting was in fact Theseus'. He had made love to Chrysandra, given her a child, but he was not inclined to make her his queen.

The goddess could not help wondering why. Why did he keep repeating himself in taking lovers and then dumping them when he tired of them? Well, he could probably not dump Chrysandra the same way he had dumped Ariadne – on a desolate island. Chrysandra was after all Athenian and did probably have a family who would protest if he tried something like that. So he took care of Chrysandra, made her one of his scribes instead.

Ariadne's train of thoughts kept rolling down the track and soon she found herself wondering if there had been anything done yet to match Theseus with her sister Phaidra. The Cretan princess who according to her late mother would re-install magic-spiritual stability again after the death of the minotaur.

After a couple of more visitors the audience was over and Theseus dismissed his various advisors. At that point Athena had made herself visible to the king, and soon she was discussing the state of the nation with the king. He didn't seem to be awed, he was probably used to visits by the divine protectress of his hometown.

Then suddenly Ariadne felt Theseus' eyes upon her and he paled notable. By mistake Ariadne had made herself visible and now she hid herself again. The king rose from his throne, shaking.  
"I'm sorry, my goddess", he turned to Athena. "But there's something I have to check. "  
"What? Athena turned to follow his glance, but Theseus had already set pace towards the hidden Ariadne and Artemis.

"Why did you do that?" Artemis whispered.  
"I don't know", Ariadne replied. "I guess I just didn't think. "

Theseus stopped in surprise, just a few steps from the goddesses. Then he wrinkled his forehead, started to look around.  
"Ariadne, are you there?" he called out in the air.  
"Is something wrong?" Athena asked and started to walk towards the confused king.

"It's... it was... I thought... Athena, I dream of her every night!"  
"Who?"

"The lady I sailed away from on Naxos. The princess!"

Then he turned away from Athena, called out again:  
"Ariadne, I swear it was a mistake! I didn't mean to leave you behind! I thought you were on board. I'm sorry!"  
"There's no one here but you and me", Athena lied and Ariadne grasped Artemis' hand for support. So it had all been a mistake, Theseus had never meant to leave her on Naxos.

"Did you come back for me?" she heard herself say out loud.  
"Ariadne?" Theseus again. He was steadying himself against one of the marble pillars and Ariadne felt tears sting her eyes. He looked so pained, so heartbroken.

"We better get you out of her before you do anything stupid", Artemis said and grabbed Ariadne's waist and brutally pulled her up in the air.  
"No, wait! "  
"Wait nothing! You can't return to him now! You're immortal for chaos' sake. And what would Dionysos say you think?"  
"But I just need to talk to him..."  
"No, you don't!"  
"... to find out..."  
"There's nothing to find out with Theseus. He will find new love and you are a married woman, dearest. Come on now! "

The next moment Artemis had pulled Ariadne out on the rooftop and sat her down in the shadow of a tall chimney.  
"You're going to thank me later, but now I know how you feel. "  
"How can you know that, you've told me you've never loved. "  
"OK so I lied about that, but it's because it's a long story I don't like to tell. "  
"What?"  
"Some other time. Now, let's wait for Athena. "

With those words the goddess of hunt sat down next to Ariadne, crossed her arms around her knees and kept silent. But Ariadne could tell that the kind, dark-haired goddess was fighting back tears and again she wondered what had happened, why Artemis refused to love.


	19. Apollo's songs

**Apollo's songs**

Upon seeing Dionysos Ariadne ran up to him and threw herself in his arms in an almost assaulting way. It had been an upsetting experience encountering king Theseus in his cold and lonely Athenian castle and Ariadne had been more or less in chock during the ride home in Athena's chariot, although she hadn't said anything to her friends, but let Athena speak about day to day Athenian business. The goddess' voice had almost felt soothing with its down to earth matters.

" Honeypie", Dion had said with surprise in his voice. "What's the matter, wasn't the trip a good one?"  
" No... I mean yes... Yes it was - in parts. But I... Oh, Dionysos, I love you!"  
" I love you too Ariadne! You want to talk about it?"  
" I don't know..." Ariadne looked down upon Dion's chest, started to pluck at buttons on his tunic.  
" Talking helps, you know. "

" Dion... I met Theseus!"  
" Theseus of Athens? The jerk who dumped you? Did you go see him or what? There was something tense in Dionysos' voice. "  
" Well, not exactly met him. I... We... Athena met him. "

Ariadne told Dionysos of her encounter with the Athenian king, still resting in his embrace.  
" I felt so sorry for him, she finished. He seemed so pale, so lacklustre. What did I ever see in him really?"  
" Remember you were a mortal back then. Now you're a goddess. Being among the gods colours one's perception. You get used to gods, and thus the mortals pale in comparison. That's why I try to not stay so long with the gods. I like the experience of mortals, and I don't want to lose that feeling. Actually, Ari, this year is the longest time I've stayed at Olympos – and it was for your sake, to help you make a home here. But soon I think I want to go down there again, travel a bit. After this year's harvest of wine I suppose."

" What about me then?"  
" That's up to you, darling. If you want to come along, I love to have you with me, and if you want to stay here you can do so. As well as changing your mind along the way and either catch up with me somewhere or go back home while I move on."  
" You're so kind to me."  
" Why shouldn't I. You're my wife, my love, my life! Now, come, let's go to bed, I've missed you. And tomorrow's going to be late. "  
" Yeah, I remember, Apollo's concert! "

There was excitement in the air, as always before a major event. Apollo's yearly releases of his new work, with a few exceptions kept secret until tonight, was something a lot of the gods were looking forward with anticipation to.

When Dionysos and Ariadne arrived to the Arena most of the gods and goddesses were still sampling food from the buffet but some were already seating down, making sure to get good places near the stage. Because tonight _everyone_ was here, every nymph, rivergod, oceanid, wind and other little being who seldom came to the parties at Zeus' place.

There was Atlas - not lifting up heaven of course – but with his arms occupied in spite, by one charming daughter on each. Maia, as redheaded as her father as well as her son Hermes and Taygete, dark and petite with a waist so slim Ariadne thought she was going to snap in half.

Then there was Hyperion, father to Helios, Selene and Eos. He was talking to Poseidon who had brought his wife Amphitrite and one of their sons, Triton. Next to them was Demeter's son Bootes courting Karmanor's daugher Khrysothemis . Khrysothemis as well as her father were familar to Ariadne, being Cretan too. The muses' mother Mnemosyne was there of course and so was Leto, mother of Artemis and Apollo; with her sister Asteria who had a toyboy rivergod on her arm. Apollo's son Asklepios was flirting with a goddess named Epione and even Ares seemed to be content, enjoying the delicacies of the buffet.

Nereus, the old man of the sea was enquiring Dionysos about wine and Aphrodite was lecturing her young son Eros over something. A bit away Herakles stood talking silently to Hebe. The latter was blushing and shrugging and Ariadne could tell that something outside the normal was going on between these two.

Then the muse Clio took the stage, enhancing her mezzo-soprano voice, calling for attention.  
" Ladies and Gentlemen, she began. Tonight is the night of music. Tonight is the night of Apollo's latest work. We will hear great things, I promise you. I have tasted some tidbits, and I can tell that there are pieces in the repertoire sounding unlike anything you've ever heard before. Then of course there will be some oldies and goldies too plus the usual half an hour of requests. We're starting with a number of a kind I can't reveal more about than it's fantastic!"

Those who want to dance, feel free to do so and those who just want to sit down and listen do so as well! Music can be experienced in so many different ways, and each of us have his or her favourite way. That's enough talking from me now. You will hear me sing soon enough though. Now, let the show begin!

People had cheered, whistled and applauded and then the divine fires had dimmed, and the noise had died down. Soon it was almost dark, almost silent at the arena. Expectation hung in the air and the stars seemed to shine brighter than ever.

First a sole, blue light lit up the stage, a single tune was heard, echoing loud and clear, filling the air with an almost unearthly feel as it rung up against the dark night sky. Artificial mists began to swirl around the stage, hiding and revealing the glittering decorations. The show was apparently visual as well.

That first tune was followed by several more, a theme repeating itself over and over again. It was amazing – more beautiful than anything Ariadne had heard before.

When the choir chimed in a shiver travelled down Ariadne's spine and she grabbed Dionysos' hand. The choir was followed by soft drumming that was obviously building up to something. Clio had been right, this was unlike anything Ariadne had ever heard before. Apollo was using traditional Hellenic elements but blending them with spices of Africa and Asia and something more that might as well be his own invention.

That build-up increased, became louder and faster – and then it all stopped, almost like it was stopping for breath. A red light was lit and a sole woman's voice was heard. It was Melpomene retelling the sad story of Orpheus and Eurydice. It started out happily enough with exciting variations of the classic bridal theme – the very same Apollo had played for Ariadne and Dion a few months ago.

Then came renderings of nature's songs as the two lovers picnicked and played around in the meadows – flutes mimicking birdcalls and some instrument Ariadne didn't know sounding like streaming water. But with a bam the idyll was ruptured, a snake had slithered itself into paradise and with a poisonous bite killed the young bride. Ariadne couldn't help the tears coming to her eyes once again in spite of knowing the story by heart. Yet this was told in a new way, and it was mesmerizing not only her. She had heard Aphrodite gasp for breath behind her when the snake stroke.

A natural pause in the rendition made room for applauses, and then Orpheus' journey down under started. This was illustrated by creepy, scary sounds, hard, distorted and angst like tunes, grinding strings and an eerie beat banged on a tin drum. The muses were dancing now, wearing daemon masques and performing strange movements twisting themselves in ways the human body supposingly could not be bent. The lights and the smoke enhanced the spooky feeling by casting terrible shadows.

Apollo himself showed up as Orpheus, and the muses created a shadow effect that was the hell hound Cerberus. It was howling and barking, yanking its chain but Orpheus began to play his lyre – a soothing lullaby starkly contrasting to the fading hell sounds. Thus the beast fell asleep, curling up and Ariadne almost giggled when an organ made a snoring sound.

A creaking gate opened up and Orpheus entered the home of the king and queen of the underworld, they were silhouettes too, imposing and slightly scary – although Persephone's pointy nose was hard to mistake. Orpheus played for the royal couple, so sweet, so sad and so filled with heartbreaking longing that the shadow– Persephone suddenly hid her face in her hands, shaking slightly.

Ariadne cast a glance over at the real Persephone, she was mesmerized at the recreation of herself, biting on her knuckle and unaware of the world around her as her shadow counterpart convinced her husband to let Eurydice return – on the well known condition that Orpheus was not allowed to look back. And no matter how much Ariadne wished for another outcome, he failed this time too and lost his beloved who was pulled back in the shadows again.

The end of the rendition was met with generous applauses and Apollo was at the front of the now lit up stage, bowing to the audience, and behind him the muses were bowing too.  
" Ladies and gentlemen", he said. "For Orpheus and Eurydice's love this was the end. But it's far from the end of tonight's event. In fact this is only the end of the beginning. Now let's switch over to some more uplifting tunes! Give me drums, Thalia!" he called over his shoulder, and a fast, immediate rhythm started to fill the arena.

" Give me strings!" Apollo went on, "give me horns!" Soon there was a melody, music everywhere. And the god of music began to sing. These were all brand new songs, well crafted pieces of pure joy, and one after another people got up and begun dancing to the beat.

There were bridges, where Apollo called out:  
" I want to see hands in the air!" And they were all waving.  
" More hands, he urged."  
" Call in some of the hundred handeds then!" some witty person was calling from behind Ariadne. Hermes of course.

Soon it became impossible to resist, Ariadne and Dionysos went up dancing too, jumping and spinning to these fast beating tunes. Apollo was singing, chanting, wailing and did some funny rhythmic talking over the beat which sounded almost like the war chants Ariadne had heard the soldiers sing when she had watched the Garnamara events in the sight pool together with Athena. But Apollo's rapping was not about killing the enemies but about partying until dawn.

It went on until Ariadne was all wet with sweating and thought she was going to faint from thirst. Then Apollo slowed down quite a bit and delivered a batch of ballads one more beautiful than the other. The audience were all sitting down now and Ariadne conjured up some water to herself and Dion. Others around her were doing the same. Still others were holding up small flames of divine fire in their hands, creating stars on the ground, similar to those in heaven.

Meanwhile Apollo took a step back and let the muses sing, one after another telling her self-penned lyrics. Ourania sang about the stars in the sky and Erato had written a dirty song about a horny old king who slept with his whole court and when that was done he went on with all the horses in the stable and sheep in the meadows. And people were laughing of course, funny how dirty songs had that effect on people – gods as well as mortals.

Not all sang though, Calliope had chosen to play the flute and Polyhymnia played upon an alien string instrument called sitar. Then all the muses came together for a final song – a homage to Apollo, their great leader and teacher. And even from this far Ariadne could tell that the god was blushing.

Then Apollo addressed the audience again:

" Now it's sing-along time, here come the oldies!" And they sure did, all of the great songs Apollo had performed during the year Ariadne had lived at Olympos became repeated here. Everyone from the sad song about Keyx and Halcyone to the slapstick "Medusa's bad hair day". The audience was a bit hesitant first, but soon more and more joined in, singing along to the classics. When Apollo came to "Greedy Greedy Midas" the arena was boiling over and when he finished it with "Catch Pegasus if you can" people started to call out "Once more, once more".

So Apollo had to return for some extra numbers, he sang about the amazons in the north in "So sexy so dangerous" and an event Ariadne remembered from her childhood – "Icaros' flight". He finished with "Racing with centaurs" and then the end was irrevocable. People were cheering and applauding, stamping their feet and calling out "Once more, once more" even if it was futile. Apollo and the muses had came in and bowed one last time, and now the nymphs were beginning to take down the stage.

"- And imagine that fool Marsyas who thought he could compete with this", Selene, sitting next to Persephone was saying.  
" Who?" Ariadne asked.  
" Oh, just a nobody satyr." Selene shrugged.  
" I'm tired", Eos was complaining, "and I have to go working." And true enough, the sky was beginning to bright up in the east. The concert had lasted all night long.


	20. Artemis' secret

**Artemis' secret**

"His name was Orion", Artemis began. Then she sighed and looked out of the window upon the grey skies and falling rain. It was Ariadne's birthday, her first one at Olympos, save for the one last year, which she had spent asleep in Zeus' immortality chamber. But tonight she was going to celebrate it for real. One of her gifts had been Artemis' promise to tell why she refused to fall in love.  
"After the star sign?" Ariadne asked and the goddess of hunt shook her dark head.  
"No, the other way around. I named a star constellation after him. One that looked a bit like him, so that he will never be forgotten. "  
"What happened?"

"Let me do this from the beginning, or you won't understand", Artemis said, stopped gazing out at the rain and turned, meeting Ariadne's look. Her chestnut eyes were sad and serious, and she kept silent for a second or two, while making herself sitting more comfortable among the large cushions, gathering her thoughts.  
"Yes his name was Orion. He was a hunter just like me. A wonderful man. Tender and handsome, funny and kind. Brave and inspiring. Everything you could wish for and then some. Orion felt like a miracle for this young and quite naive girl who was I back then. There was only one problem – and that was a big one. He was mortal. "  
"So?"  
"What do you mean, so?"  
"Couldn't Zeus make him immortal the way he did to me?"

"Oh that. Ari, I tend to forget that you've been mortal these days. You have blended into the gang so nicely. But back then – this was more than seven hundred years ago and Zeus had not mastered the art of turning mortals into immortals. It wasn't until centuries later and some failed tries he made it. I remember a poor lover to Eos whom dad prevented from dying but not from aging. Then it took a century or so more before dad learned to master the art of isolating the parts of the DNA that make you age and die, and then to burn them away, replacing them with corresponding immortal genes.

Nevertheless, my Orion lived long before that discovery was made. And I was hardly past my teens, hadn't really grasped the difference between immortals and mortals back then. To me Orion was the most wonderful being in existence, I could not imagine that I would lose him. He taught me about hunting, about sneaking up on dears and boars, about snaring hares and rabbits and making traps for larger prey like bears. He taught me how to take care of a killed animal, how to lit campfires and how to keep mosquitoes away.

He showed me edible berries and helped me with stringing a bow and target practicing. And I in turn picked flowers and made wreaths which I decorated his dark head with. I showed him amber, telling him that it had once been resin – thousand of years from now. I sang to him and massaged his shoulders. Yet I never told him I was immortal, I never told I was Zeus' daughter. I don't know if it was because it felt slightly embarrassing to brag like that or if I was afraid to scare him off - to lose him.

I know that I had to tell him eventually but I kept pushing these thoughts away. I behaved like all girls do at that age – living for the moment, believing that it would always be like like it was right then, that nothing would ever change. That Orion and I would hunt side by side into eternity, running together through these lush Thessalian forests where birds called out and creeks streamed and the wind sang in the huge treetops.

I rejoiced in waking up with Orion by my side in the mornings and to walk along his side over the green hills. I loved swimming together with him in the lakes, kiss in the showers of small waterfalls and to seek out the mysteries of the caves with him by my side. And in the end of the day I loved to fall asleep next to him as the campfire turned into embers. "  
"That sounds fantastic."

"It sure was. We had such a wonderful time. The paradise of youth! And we made love, although I have almost forgot what it was like."  
"I thought you was a virgin", Ariadne said. "At least that was what everybody on Crete claimed."  
"Nope, not really. Well almost. I have never had an immortal man. And that's virginity for some people around. The mortal Orion was my one and only. I will not and cannot get over him. Taking another lover might taint that memory, and I don't want such a thing to happen. "  
"Artie, love can be... I mean, I forgot Theseus upon meeting Dion. Have you ever reconsidered? An immortal man you would have forever. Also, if Zeus can turn mortals into immortals these days..."

Artemis shook her head.  
"No, I don't want to risk getting hurt again. Then I've seen too many failed relations among the immortals to stand by my wove. Just look at my dad and Hera! Or Hephaestus and Aphrodite! I guess you and Dion is the lucky exception to the rule. And I think that is Athena's point with staying out of love too."  
"But what happened to Orion? He got old on you and died? "  
"That was what Apollo thought was going to happen. He was furious with me for falling for a mortal man. He thought I was degrading myself. Back then my dear twin had such a superior complex and considered the mortals so very inferior that they were not worth loving. Something he changed his mind about later all right. Anyhow he warned me that the loss of Orion would break my heart. And he got that right, but sooner than you might think. "

"What happened?" Ariadne repeated herself.  
"We had been spending some days following the most magnificent elk. The huge king of the forest who kept being one step ahead of us all the time. Then we came to a ravine and Orion suggested that we should split and try to corner the animal, trick him into falling. But it didn't happen that way. It was my love who tripped and fell. A part of the ground was weak, and he stepped right there, tumbling with the loose stones down in the ravine. I came down too late to save him. One last loving look did I get from those velvet eyes before the light went out in them. I didn't even get the chance to kiss him goodbye. "

Artemis hid her face in her hands but looked up soon enough.  
"I can't cry anymore though. Today I can rejoice in the short time Orion and I got together. And if I could choose again I would chose the same years of youth."  
"But what did your family say when you returned to Olympos? Wasn't there anyone to help you?"

"Yes, they were, I got all the comfort in the world. Hugs and warm words. Still I was devastated, stayed in bed for more than a week with closed blinds to the beauty of the arriving spring. I refused to eat, and became but a shadow of myself. In the end dad sent me away to the goddess Sawalana of land of the amazons, to help me to forget. And that was the remedy I needed – new things to concentrate on. I learned a lot, like delivering babies and curing and healing as well as killing. "

"But no one wanted to bring Orion back for you?"  
"As you know, no one knew how to pick up mortals from Hades back then. Persephone wasn't even born and Hades just a mystery being down under whom you wanted as little to do with as possible. At least I still feel that way about the dark god. "  
But Apollo never said 'I told you so' even if he had every right to do that. He comforted me and helped me trough my sadness. And well on the other side I took the wove of never love again, never letting myself be hurt another time. "


	21. Plague

**P****lague**

"Here's the Ambrosia", Zeus said and opened up the gold-plaited titanium box he had placed in front of himself on the large ebony desk. Ariadne stretched her neck to see well. She had heard about Ambrosia all right, the legendary sustenance of the gods. But she had yet to encounter it; the mortals back on Crete had thought the gods ate it all the time, something which was obviously wrong. When Ariadne came to Olympos she had found that the gods ate very much the same thing as the mortals, although more varied and of better quality, not to mention the exotic food they imported from other pantheons from different corners around the world.

This was actually the first time she had beheld Ambrosia. It was shimmering purplish-red egg-shaped forms with a jelly-like structure, sized roughly like half of Ariadne's fist. Cold smoke from the ice surrounding it was leaking out from the box and forming white mists which whirled over Zeus' cluttered desk before they vaporized into the king's large office where reflected morning sun from the outdoor pool danced in the ceiling and shone off golden ornaments. The Ambrosia didn't look that appetizing, Ariadne had to admit, and the smell coming from the box was almost overwhelmingly soggy and sweet.

There were six of those eggs in the box, one for every gathered deity save for Zeus himself. One for Artemis, Apollo, Dionysos, Asklepios, Eileithya and her.

"You think we're going to need it?" Artemis asked her father, seating herself a bit more comfortable in the visitor's chair. It was her nephew Asklepios, sitting next to her who replied in Zeus's stead:  
"Taking in mind the intensity of the plague, the speed with which it's spreading and how few we are who can be spared to work with it, Ambrosia will be absolutely necessary. Or we won't cope. Neither the healers nor the sterilizers. "

Artemis made a face:  
"Well all right then. Gimme some and let's get it over with. "  
"Wait a moment!" Ariadne cut in. "How does this Ambrosia thing work? I used to think gods always ate it."  
"Thanks the faiths not!" Artemis exclaimed.  
"Oh don't be such a sissy", Apollo returned, although he too had a strained look to his face.

"Sorry Ariadne", Zeus interrupted the twin's exchange. "We're running ahead of facts here again, forgetting that you're a newbie. We don't eat Ambrosia all the time that's true, in spite of what the mortals might believe. Because Ambrosia is not food, it's a drug. A drug that enhances strength, endurance, focus, clarity of mind and fast thinking. More or less necessary for hard tasks that take a lot of energy. Like the mass-healing a plague like this is going to demand. "

Ambrosia was first discovered during the Titan wars and it became more or less the staple ration for the divine soldiers fighting the Titans. It made us stronger and faster, helped us healing our injuries faster and made it possible to be able to fight for days and days without sleep, food or rest. Nectar to keep up the sugar levels and Ambrosia, that was the only thing some of us drank and ate in the end. Needless to say the Ambrosia helped us win.

Since then we are keeping the Ambrosia for special occasions, especially dangerous or hard tasks like the one lying in front of you six. It is not to be used for day to day work, because it does create some kind of addiction.  
"Even if it tastes like shit", Artemis cut in.  
"It's not meat so what do you expect", Apollo chided.  
"It cures hangovers well too", Dionysos told.  
"But what is it really?" Ariadne asked. "Is it a fruit? An herb?"

"It's nothing like that", Zeus explained. "It's an otherworldly object. It 'grows' – in absence of a better world – in Kodos, a dimension between this one and the first level of Hades. Some of it can be fond on the shores of Acheron too, but it's not as strong and very rare. Some mortals have been eating it, believing it might return them to the upper world, instead they become trapped in eternity between dimensions, quite a tragedy. "  
"Can't they be helped?" Ariadne asked.  
"If we find them, which is nearly impossible", Apollo said. "Given of course that we know that there is some poor sod trapped there in first place of course. "

"Travelling to Kodos is quite an effort, so only Hera and I do that when Ambrosia is needed", Zeus went on. "The magic needed to break the barriers and to do it right takes a lot of strength and focus. Because of Kodos' special narrowness in space and time it's even more tiring going there than down to the actual Hades. This time Hera went, that's why she's still asleep today."  
"I guessed as much", Eileithya said, "mother is not exactly the sleep-in kind. "

"Mortals use to think it's what keeps us immortal", Ariadne said.  
"It kept us in shape during the Titan wars, that's probably where the misconception comes from", Zeus replied.  
"Can mortals eat it, and what happens then? Do they become immortal, like the legend says?"  
"No way", Zeus laughed at that. "That's another common misconception, I know. Then we wouldn't need the DNA bath you dipped into, sweetheart. Mortals can eat it, true, but it has no effect on them whatsoever, since they lack the receptors for the working substances in the Ambrosia. They get a bit sick, that's the only thing happening. And most of it'll leave their bodies the wrong end."

"I understand them", Artemis said and Apollo rolled his eyes.  
"We need to get to work, Asklepios interrupted. The plague is spreading like wild fire as we speak. The god of medicine reached for an 'egg' in the golden box, and as if on a signal Eileithya, the twins and Ariadne's husband rose from their places to come up to Zeus and receive their own 'eggs'. Ariadne, who was last after Artemis, hesitated a second before grabbing hers.

The room went silent as the gods began to consume their Ambrosia; the only thing heard was the chirping birds in the trees outside the open windows and the splashing from a fountain down in the garden. And somebody, Deimos Ariadne guessed, calling out Ares' name somewhere. Ariadne closed her eyes and bit into her egg. It wasn't that repulsive in spite of Artemis' "guck"s next to her. It was sweet. Sweeter than jam, but with a strong undercurrent of umami challening her tounge. And kind of oily with a rubbery feel of growing in the mouth. It did create some sick sensation though and to get over with it fast, Ariadne pressed down the remainings quick and swallowed hard.

Then she experienced what Zeus had been talking about. An emerging strength and feeling of sharpness. Like she was thinking faster and more accurate. Something like the very opposite of being drunk. Ariadne looked around at the gathered gods and goddesses. They too had another glow to their eyes, even Artemis looked content. And Eileithya had a gleeful sheen of ecstasy in her large, brown eyes.  
"I feel like I can take on the Typhon", she cheered."  
"Oh, you don't want to do that", Apollo replied. "Remember how bad it wounded some of us, including dad."  
"Yet she will have", Asklepios said. "There's billions of little typhon's out there and they are after the mortals. "  
"Ask is right", Zeus nodded to his grandson. "Get out there and start working now! This Ambrosia will last for about 48 hours, then there's more available in the cold cellar should it be needed."

The plague which had hit Tiryns in Western Hellas had killed hundreds already and those surviving had been desperately pleading to Apollo and Asklepios in the temples. When the calls for help had reached Olympos, the father and son had gathered a little group of deities with accurate healing abilities and then Asklepios had told roughly what they were dealing with and how healing worked in the case of a plague. It was different than closing a wound or curing minor illnesses. Since there was viruses to battle the healing would consist of raising each victim's immune defence to a level where it could battle the viral infection and win.

"Since we can't take every single virus down we will have to do it this way, help the afflicted to heal themselves," Ask said as they neared Tiryns. "And we have to work fast and merciless, we have to work with those not yet ill or those in the early state of illness. The really ailing ones, those on the border of dying, we can do nothing about. "  
"We can't?" Eileithya said. "I thought…"

"Even with Ambrosia we can't." Ask replied. "Well in theory we can, but it'll take too much time and effort and in the end we will accomplish next to nothing because the plague will spread faster than we can heal. Artemis! It'll be your task to cord off the city, prevent arriving mortals from entering. Dad and Dion, you'll work on sterilizing the perimeter and then work yourself inwards killing viruses as you go. Ari and Ell, you come with me to work with healing downtown the way I showed you."  
"Hope I don't get the blame for this plague at least", Artemis said, "just because people might see me."  
"You might and you might not", Apollo replied. "Live with it, sis! I've been there done that too. I was blamed for the plague in…"

Ariadne didn't hear the rest of the exchange since she and Ell and Ask flew into the town to start working on the mortals instead.

Asklepios guided Ariadne to her first ill mortal. It was a woman in her early 20ies, lying down in her bed behind drawn curtains on the second floor of a middle-class mason, on top of the family's business, a bakery. The woman's face was ashen and sweat trickled over her forehead and dampened her dark curls. When Ariadne touched her forehead it burned hot beneath the goddess' soft hand.

"Close your eyes and concentrate", Ask told Ariadne. "See if you can feel the viruses in her blood. Use your inner vision!" Ariadne did as told and after a first failed try she saw the viruses all right. Little round blotches much like the soft pillows people used for their chairs. It was hard to think that such a tiny thing could be so lethal. But then she saw them breaking and entering the human cells, trashing the tissue apart, killing as they went.

"They're usurping the cellular recreation system, forcing the cells to produce more viruses instead of new cells, Ask explained. Now concentrate on wiping those cells out. "  
"How?"  
"You simply "pop" them – like this!"

Ask showed her how to smash them using divine magic. And then he showed her the body's immune defence, showed her how to create more cells using the dead viruses for raw material, and also how to make the immune defence cells sturdier and more enduring.  
"Work like this and you'll have saved this lady in another 25 minutes. Then put her to sleep and go on with her husband. I'll go down doing the same for the kids. After that we'll go next door. "

Ariadne obeyed, she took the woman in her burning hand while working. Not because it was necessary but because she felt like doing that. She felt that the woman was responding to her tenderness without being able to understand what was happening. She could not see Ariadne, who had rendered herself invisible and she could not really feel the touch of her divine hand, she only smiled lightly, feeling that _something_ was happening, someone had heard her prayers.  
"Gods?" she wispered with dry lips and Ariadne nodded silently.

First nothing seemed to happen but then Ariadne saw how the woman was beginning to heal herself, her health slowly beginning to improve. Her fever cooled of, her breathing became more regular and she stopped hallucinate the way she had done when Asklepios and Ariadne had entered her chamber.

Finally almost all the viruses were gone from her body and she was cured from a disease that would have killed her hadn't the gods interfered. Ariadne put the woman to sleep so she could rid herself off the last symptoms and begin to regain her strength. The goddess never bothered asking the woman's name; instead she went down into the bakery shop and begun working on the husband. He was a slightly overweight man some five years older and with sandy-coloured hair curling around a round, boyish face.

After curing him Asklepios showed her the houseto the left of the bakery:  
"A young boy. None of the other inhabitants have caught it yet, but you might boost their immune defence before you go on further. The house after that is empty and I'll go on the the next one. You'll take the house after and so on… "

Zeus had been right; it sure was a hard task. Ariadne didn't know how she could've managed without the Ambrosia keeping her alert and coping. She worked for hours and hours boosting mortals immune defence to make them able to fight off the killer virus. Perhaps the hardest part was the selection, to ignore the dyings cry out for help and instead focus on those it wasn't too late for. Once or twice she wavered in her conviction, saving the baby of a crying mother or the beloved of a devastated young man. Ask didn't scold her though, he probably knew how tough it was to be hard-hearted and rational when distressed and suffering people were calling out for help around them.

Invisible they worked hour in and hour out, only stopping for seconds to drink from their water sacks. The day drifted on into night, torches were being lit and the cries over the dying increased. Insatiable wailings drifting up in the sky together with the heavy smoke of the funeral pyres.  
"Gods, gods, where have we wronged you!? Why have you abandoned us?" an aging priest was crying out by the altar of Apollo.

'We haven't', Ariadne wanted to protest, wanted to show herself in front of the white bearded man. They were doing the best they could, but they were only six, more gods were not possible to spare. And she had after all just been saving his very life by boosting his immune defence into killing the viruses that had found their way into his body. As well as done the same for his wife and teenage children.

Wiping off her tears she asked the god of medicine during a short break:  
"What happens to us, if we get infected?"  
"You already were, you got it the very first hour in Tiryns. But you never noticed, your divine immune defence dealt with it in seconds. And now you're immune and so are the rest of us. "  
"It's so unfair sometimes…"  
"Life isn't fair; you know that", Asklepios sighed. "Come, let's go back to work! This is going to be a long night."

Quite correct. The night became long and tedious, and in the wee hours the crying mortals begun to grate on Ariadne's nerves. When dawn broke Ariadne felt like they had accomplished nothing, people were still dying in hordes around them.  
"It's always like this," Eileithya said, "the mortals discover the deceases too late, when it's already too far gone and we'll lose so many. "  
"But this time we were a little bit luckier," Ask answered the daughter of Hera. "This time we were able to discover what was going on while the viruses were still limited to Tiryns and its closest surroundings. "

In time for sunrise Apollo and Dion were done with their work and begun to help the other three.  
"This is not good", Apollo said. "You have only been able to hold it off a bit."  
"Don't you think they have been doing their best?" Dion replied.  
"Yes we have." Eileithya snarled. "So don't come here being smart with us now when…"  
"Knock it off!" Ask cut in. "We're not supposed to waste time and energy with arguing. Back to work!"

He was good at discipline, the god of medicine, Ariadne thought. Even better than his somewhat tempered father and almost in level with Zeus himself. Ariadne was glad having him by her side, he was able to encourage them all and keep them focused on their work while the hours dragged on inside this city of death.

It took until the afternoon before they began to see a difference. Then the death-rate began to dwindle and the sick were actually able to rise and walk out of their beds.  
"Have them staying down!" Asklepios warned though. "They are week and need their rest or they might catch something else, like pneumonia. On top of that some of them are still carrying some viruses and might pass them on."

When night fell on the second day the mortals began to notice the change too and started to thank the gods instead.  
"Soon Artemis can lift the ban on the town", Asklepios confirmed. "Probably at midnight, and at that hour not many are travelling so she can come here helping us instead. "

In spite of the Ambrosia Ariadne began to tire when the second night moved towards its end, and she was actually wishing for another of those Kodean eggs.  
"Would it be possible?" she asked Dion.  
"Wait till this effect wears off completely", her husband replied. "Backing up too early is seldom effective. And I don't know how much extra Amobrosia they brought to Olympos this time."

It turned out that they had to send Apollo back for more of the drug since they needed to spend a third day in Tiryns with working on getting rid of the last traces of plague. Apollo and Artemis were sent off to try tracing down stray mortals who might carry viruses, to prevent a spread of the decease. And when the gods finally gathered in the sacred room in the back of the Asklepios temple Artemis had returned teary-eyed.

"I had to kill him", she sobbed.  
"Who?" Ariadne asked.  
"The travelling bard. I had to shot him dead. He was too close to the town of Orororalda and too far infected. Had he entered the town he would have brought the plague with him and we had to start all over again, with even more dead. Still it was so hard killing him. After all he was a human being, not some deer or boar. "  
"You did the right thing, Artie", Apollo laid a hand on his sister's arm. "Sometimes you have to sacrifice one for the case of many."  
"I know, but it was still hard", Artemis said and dried tears from her dark eyes.

Ariadne looked up from the coach where she was resting close to Dionysos.  
"Are all the viruses gone now?"  
"Most of them, Ask said. And the mortals will be able to deal with those still around. The survivors are either immune or with an enhanced immune defence, something that might last a year. So until the virus mutates the next time we won't see another plague from these little monsters at least."  
"Mutates?" Ariadne asked.  
"Changes so it becomes dangerous again. These things happen with viruses, that's why we get new deceases now and then which we'll have to deal with. A healing god is never out of work", he smiled dryly.

"If we go home now, we'll make it in time for Hestia's birthday party", Dion changed subject.  
"How can you think of partying now, little brother?" Eileithya scolded.  
"How can I not? We need something fun to get this tragedy out of the system. Besides it won't help any dead mortals that we hang our head and refuse to party when we get the chance to. "

Eileithya started to protest but Apollo cut her off.  
"He's right you know. We sure can need some distraction tonight! "

Artemis and Ariadne looked at each other with risen brows. Apollo and Dionysos agreeing on something! That was definitely worth writing home about.


	22. Hephaestos' forge

**Hephaestos' forge**

One windy morning, not long after Persephone's annual departure, Dionysos asked Ariadne if she wanted to come along to Hephaestos' forge. Ariadne looked up from her sheet music, meeting the dark eyes of her husband which came popping up through the head"hole of a woollen tunic – the weather had suddenly become chilly, as always this time of year.  
"Sure!" she confirmed. She liked Hephaestos, but she had only been down in his forge once – and that was quite some time ago. "Is he working on something special at the moment?"  
"Isn't he always?" Dionysos smiled.  
"You're right. "

"There's just one thing I've been wondering about," Ariadne said after some seconds of thought. "The mortals believe he's really ugly and that Hera threw him out of Olympos because she was so disappointed with him. But he's neither limp nor ugly. So where does that story steam from?"  
"Heph was kicked out all right", Dion said. "But not because of being ugly, but because of being lazy."  
"Heph lazy?"

"Yeah, hard to believe isn't it. Well fact is that when Hephaestos was young – centuries before I was born by the way – he was a lazy bum who stayed in bed half the day and spent the rest by running after nymphs and getting drunk. Safe to say his parents had enough of that behaviour after a while and Zeus and Hera sent him off to some Oceanides who are experts on finding out where each and everyone's very core skill lays. These ladies found that Hephaestos is creative, technically skilled and good at working with his hands. So they helped him to set up a work shop and soon enough my big brother discovered that he loved to manufacture and invent things. And the rest is the proverbial history. "

Ariadne looked out of the window, to see white frost covering the grass, like spun silk and red and yellow leaves spinning around like crazy in the air. She decided on a woollen tunic too. Her silk peplos felt much too thin and she didn't want to bother with divine protection for such a short walk. Dion helped her with the fastings in the neck and then she took his hand and they started the walk down to the Southwest Estates where Hephaestos' forge was located.

There weren't many people out on this day. Over at the Stadium Ares was practicing some martial art with young apprentices and their war cries could be heard over the area, carried by the strong autumn winds that made the colourful banners on the Ruby Bridge flutter. The blacksmith god lived across the Singing River, just to the right of the bridge. In fact he was the mastermind behind the synthetic ruby material which even on a gray day like this seemed to shine like being lit by an inner fire.

Hephaestos' house was just as impressing as the bridge, a tall, cylindrical spire made of greenish"turquoise glass with a silver ball resting on top of it. At the bottom a larger cylinder received the guests. Dion's brother had rejected the otherwise mandatory pillar portico, instead an automatic door of matte steel opened up to let Dion and Ariadne in. Inside was a hall with black marble floor and likewise black marble walls, covered with the finest artwork of etched gold, picturing the Olympic family in various situations. Tiny lanterns of divine light were mounted in the eye sockets, but their shine was far from enough to lit up the large hall. Ariadne looked around but she couldn't locate the light source. It seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. When she stopped in her tracks Dion pulled at her hand:  
"Come, the elevator is waiting!"

The elevator was another of Hephaestos' marvels, a kind of enclosed chariot that went up through the cylinder to Hephaestos' home or – as in this case "down to his workshop. Dion and Ariadne entered, Dion pushed one of the red buttons on the golden wall, and the elevator begun to move downwards. Just like during her last visit Ariadne felt a bit eerie by the enclosed space and the downwards movement. But the engine stopped soon enough and they were let out inside a large industrial hall reverberating with an unbelievable noise.

There were bells and whistles, tugging cogwheels, hammering engines, hissing and smoking steam engines, screaming and grinding saws and the sound of iron and other material being cut and bent. And over it all the thundering sound of chemical fires in the large ovens where white hot metal was being melted. Just when Dion and Ariadne entered a large urn was tipping over, letting down a stream of heated bronze into a cast, and the thundering sound it made had Ariadne flinching.

And there were Hephaestos' workers. The Cyclopes, huge, bulky men dressed only in loincloths, because of the heat of the forge. At first glance they appeared one"eyed, but that was because most of them were carrying an odd headpiece with a glass plate hiding their upper face. Thus they were protected from the heat and the bright light of the melting metal. Some of these glass plates were also built for enlarging the views, so the Cyclopes could perform tiny and delicate work without having to strain their eyes.

Now some of them were managing the urn, having the melted material pour down in portions, before moving a long assembly"line where a large number of similar casts were mounted. Wheels for chariots were being made in that line. And next to that one a huge pressing machine was making front panels for the same things. A large, hairy Cyclop with a strong, bellowing voice was giving order to the workers managing the urn. Ariadne recognized him, his name was Ford, and he was the supervisor for the chariot assembly line.

"Sorry I kept you two waiting", someone was suddenly saying behind Ariadne and she turned around to face the blacksmith god.

Ariadne remembered when she first learned about this very god back on Crete. He had been described as ugly and limping, but nothing could be more wrong. In fact he was as handsome as any of the other gods, but he hid it well behind soot and dirt; his tunic wasn't the cleanest thing and his unkempt, greasy hair was tied back from his face by a likewise dirty bandana. He wasn't bearded like Zeus and Poseidon, instead he was rather unshaved and he had a large blotch of something bright yellow on his forehead. But his cocoa eyes were smiling and before Dion could back away he had been given a friendly bear hug by his muscular half"brother.

Ariadne received the same welcoming greeting, almost squeezing the air out of her lungs. This was lightyears from Apollo's noble hand-kisses.  
"No prob'", Dionysos assured as soon as he had gotten air back in his lungs. "I'm overly curious about that little invention you told me about this morning."  
"Then come on here!" Hephaestos urged them. "We're making new chariots today and Ford's team is always noisier than the rest."

"You're yellow on the forehead", Ariadne pointed out.  
"Oh that! Hephaestos put two fingers to his face, smearing around the yellow goo a bit, that's a new kind of paint I'm in the midst of developing. Some of it must have splashed up in my face. He stared a bit at his fingers then he dried them off on the tunic.

"Humph, he uttered and pulled at the sleeve and used it to wipe off most of the paint from the forehead. That didn't make him look much cleaner, instead the shape of the tunic became worse. But no one could care less than Hephaestos. He led the way out of the noisy hall and into a corridor where there were doors with signs on them telling about businesses Ariadne had no idea about. They ended up in Hephaestos' office, dominated by a large, cluttered working table. On top of some blue prints lay a few steel items of a kind Ariadne had never seen before. That didn't surprise her. Whatever Hephaestos was making, from tiny earrings to large vehicles there was always some new designs applied to them.

Hephaestos grabbed one of the steel gadgets and handed it over to Dionysos. What surprised Ariadne though was his tender, almost delicate way of handling the item.  
"What's that?" Ariadne asked.  
"Steel taps," Hephaestos replied.  
"Steel taps? What for?"  
"Wine," Dion explained. "Taps and pipes to pour the wine from barrel to urn. Will make it easier to handle the beverage."  
"I've even been sketching on long pipes that could transport the wine far. And a tap right into the bar at Zeus' place, what do you guys think? Just one twist and you'll have the red delicacy poured down right into your cup. No more running nymphs or broken amphorae. "

"Sounds fabulous, bro'!" Dion exclaimed. "Nonetheless I guess that will have to wait. I'm just interested in a little system to keep the wine running smoothly from barrel to urn. I don't think we can convince dad to install large pipes in his palace just to pump in wine with."  
"But it would be fabulous," Hephaestos insisted. "Just imagine, you won't ever run out of wine – and every party in the future is saved."  
"Tell that to daddy!" Dion replied.  
"I sure will", the blacksmith god smiled and pointed at the blue prints: "I have it all sketched out here. "

Then he started a lengthy and rather boring explanation which eventually got interrupted by a clear voice ringing from the open office door:  
"Heph? Seen your sister?"

It was Athena and Ariadne breathed with relief. Hephaestos was kind, but he could be such a geek from time to time. Now he turned, staring at the goddess of wisdom who was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed and her usual somewhat mysterious smile playing around red lips, cheeks rosy from the cold weather outside.  
"Which one of them?" he asked.  
"The one who's not mine," Athena said. "Hebe", she added when she was met with nothing but blank stares.  
"Oh, you and your riddles!" Hephaestos grinned "Well, how should I know? "

"Because you're almost the last one I'm asking. I need to talk to her and she's as absent as Persephone these days. Haven't seen her since Pan's birthday party, and that's more than a week ago. Besides, you're yellow in the face, little brother. "  
"Check with Herakles," Dion suggested. "They have been seen together quite a lot these last weeks. I wonder if they might have something going."  
"Hebe and Herakles!" Athena exclaimed. "For crying out loud, Dion, haven't you had a gulp too much of your enchanted beverage now? These two aren't really an expected match. I wouldn't even think Aphrodite would try to blind date them. "

"That's because she wants Herakles," Heph said with a sour voice.  
"Well if you paid your wife half as much attention as you pay your work you wouldn't have to be cuckolded all the time," Athena replied.  
"I'm not..." Hephaestos began.  
"Oh, stop it," Ariadne said. "This is pointless. And no, I haven't seen Hebe in quite a while. And not Herc either to be true. "

"Well if they really _are_ together Hera will sure have a fit!" Athena figured. "She's still not on good terms with Herc and she protects Hebe with all her might, her only daughter outside the marriage and thus not under Zeus' aegis. She believes Hebe is vulnerable and in need of special attention. "  
"Does she?" Ariadne asked.  
"No, certainly not, Hebe can take care of herself all right," Athena told. Then she strolled over to Heph's table and took up the blueprints the blacksmith god had put down upon Athena's arrival.

"What's this?" she changed subject. So Hephaestos was back explaining the ideas of taps and pipes again. Athena simply hummed, not looking overly impressed.  
"Too much work for some wine." she said. Then she seemed to think a bit and finally said:  
"Water!"  
"What?" Heph wrinkled his brows.  
"Water! Pipes for water instead of wine. Not only for drinking, but for the bathrooms too. And for laundry rooms and cooking and dishes and – well everywhere you would need water."

Hephaestos bit his lower lip while pondering what Athena just had offered and then he looked like a sun coming out from the clouds.  
"Good idea! Thenie, you've got some time to spend on this?"  
"Well, I really should keep looking for Hebe but since she seems to have disappeared from the face of the Earth I think I might as well sit down a bit with you. "

When Dion and Ariadne left the others in Heph's office and started back home Ariadne asked:  
"Do you think Hebe and Herakles are a couple?"  
"Not sure," Dion wrinkled his brows. "Perhaps Aphrodite knows. Nevertheless there sure is going to be a buzz if that rumour is true. Hera's going to be furious and I don't think dad's going to like the idea either. "


	23. Aphrodite's love

**Aphrodite's love**

" Herakles and Hebe?" Aphrodite's violet eyes were as innocent as a baby's when Ariadne inquired her a few days later. Since there wasn't a party going on at Zeus' palace that night some of the gods and goddesses had been dining together in a low-keyed way at Aphrodite and Hephaestos' place way up in the shining tower at the bank of the Singing River. After dinner Hephaestos had dragged Dionysos, Athena and a few others down by the elevator to show the latest blueprints for this water piping thing.  
" Boring," Aphrodite had exclaimed and Ariadne had fully agreed. Engineering marvels had never been her thing, at least not when they weren't ready, steady and going. Now she and the goddess of love were sitting alone at Aphrodite and her husband's high veranda overlooking the wonders of the Olympos from above and sipping on some chilled nectar. Ariadne took the chance to ask about the rather ill matched duo.

Aphrodite shook her head:  
" I'm innocent in this, I was out of town when it happened. On the other hand I'm more than pleased to see it develop. I guess I have a soft spot for odd couples, after all I'm part of one. "  
" You mean you and Heph? I think you are cute together. "  
" Humph. Not really, but love has its ways. And I did fall in my own trap."  
" What happened? "

¤*¤*¤ _Aphrodite tells _¤*¤*¤

I came to Olympos being 63, headhunted by Eumonia. She's one of Zeus' co-workers, who more or less vacuums the world for immortals with useful traits. At that time I had been suffering from some kind of 60 years crisis, wondering what to do with my life. I still considered myself as 'Goddess of [fill in the dotted line]' and didn't really think I was good at anything save for blind dating my friends and one or two mortal couples I felt sorry for. So when the inquiry came from Olympos I was more surprised than anything.

My mother Dione warned me, she told me that Olympos was full of wile intrigues and malevolent and power-hungry deities plotting against each other. But that only thrilled me, I was bored and longed for new horizons, new adventures, and Olympos was after all Olympos, something alluring and out of reach even for most immortals.

Eumonia, who recruited me, explained that I was destined to become the ultimate goddess of love, and she arranged for my education, which went on for a bit more than a decade before I could be 'rebirth' at the shores of Kypros and installed in my new function.

During those years I took my chances with the male gods of Olympos of course. There was Apollo – handsome but a bit too conceited, Hermes, who would have been nice if he could only shut up once in a while, Poseidon who had too many mood swings to be in my taste, Helios who seemed like a bore and Ares who was hot when around, but most of the time he was off somewhere fighting some war or another. Finally Hephaestos who I hardly saw because he was working all the time. And when I saw him he was always dirty and smelly.

Your Dionysos, Pan, Aeolus and Herakles were not around at that time, Asklepios was just a babe and Zeus – well he was off-limits and Hades freaked me out. The rest were small gods to have and to dump, and Eumonia told me I should go for one of the major gods if any. So I was more or less leaning on Ares – until that very day…

It was a hot day in early September and I had just arrived home after working over a week with matching mortals of the royal houses of Thebes and Sparta. I felt I needed a cooling swim and went down to the Sea of Silver. Not a soul were there oddly enough, not even some childish off-duty nymphs with no cares in the world splashing at each other. The blue surface laid untouched, only softly stirred by a mild wind and beckoning me to jump in. I decided to enjoy this moment of solitude, climbed up at the highest rock, took off my thin peplo and dived down in the crystal clear water.

You know how deep that lake is, I guess I dived fifty meters or something, or at least until I hardly saw the green daylight, before I turned and started to swim upwards. I rested a while just below the surface, admired the bubbles sneaking out of my closed mouth, watched them dance their way up to the mercury-like surface and killing themselves by joining it. The sun beams were shining down like silver rays in the water and the world was so overly beautiful I felt I could kiss everything. And thus I made a promise down there, a really reckless one, but you know me!

I promised to kiss the first male I would encounter upon returning up.

Given that I finally broke surface and gazed around me. The sun was beating down at the shimmering lake, almost blinding me and I had to cover my eyes with my hand. When I looked again I saw him. A stranger god sitting at a rock, splashing his feet in the water, humming to himself. He was good-looking with his light-brown hair still wet from swimming and a fine tuned although a bit pale body. And I had never seen him before! Who was he?

He couldn't be a minor god like the four winds or a garden or river god or something, his aura was too powerful for that. He must be one of Zeus' children, I reckoned. But hadn't I met them all? At least those mighty ones living at Olympos?

Nevertheless I still had to keep my promise, so I swam up to the god who hadn't noticed me yet, so lost in his own contemplation was he. I had almost reached the rock he was sitting on, when he finally looked up and saw me.  
" Hi there…"

He never got further because I jumped up like a mermaid and kissed him right on those full, sensual lips. I surprised him of course, but only for some milliseconds, his mind worked fast like a true god, and before I knew it he had gripped me with large, strong hands and was kissing me back. When he let go I was gasping for air and he smiled at me and asked:  
" Now what did I do to receive such an honour?"  
" You were there, and I felt like kissing someone so I kissed you. "

" You sure are full of surprises, Aphrodite!"  
" You know my name?"  
" Of course I do. Who doesn't? The goddess of love, most beautiful of them all. "  
" I thought that was Hera. "  
" And since she's my mother I have nothing to say about that", the stranger smiled.

" You're a child of Hera?"  
" And of Zeus. "  
" So where have you been all these years I've been living up here? "  
" Working, I guess. Most of the time."

" Where? When, and with what?" Curious I sat down next to the god.  
" Oh, this and that. Magic locks for divine secrets, better flying chariots, sundials, armour, abacuses… gizmos and gadgets of all kinds. Including some little trinkets to enhance a woman's beauty. Like this! "

The god held out a hand, and suddenly there was something glittering, golden there. Something he had brought trough the ultradimension on a whim. Curious I looked closer and saw that it was a bracelet and one of the most beautiful ones I'd ever seen. Daring I poked at it, and in return the god took it and fastened it around one of my slender wrists.

" You want me to have it? "  
" Of course!"  
" What for?"  
" For kissing me. "

" That was just a whim", I blushed.  
" Perhaps, although it saved a day I thought sucked until then."  
" Your day sucked? Why?"  
" I hurt my foot."  
" Oh, poor you! Let me see it!"

" Oh, don't worry, it has healed since long."  
" What's the problem then?"  
" I dropped an iron bulk on it and it hurt like a blast and made me lose concentration on what I was working on, and then I realized I had been working on the same kind of bloody self playing piano for more than 48 hours without really getting anywhere. So I decided I needed a break, and went up here to take a swim before I'd go grab something to eat and hit the bunk.

" Poor you. That sounds… lonely.  
" Yeah, perhaps. No one enjoys my company anyhow."  
" Why do you say so? You seem nice enough to me. "  
" But I work odd hours to say the least. And I tend to forget people around me when I do that. My former wife Aglaia left me because she couldn't stand me paying so little attention to her. "

" She did? Poor you! Just like that?"  
" Ah, well she placed an ultimatum, told me it was either my latest invention or her."  
" And what did you say then?"  
" Nothing, because this sad, ugly sod didn't even hear her, I just kept on working, and the next day she was gone. Packed everything and left when I was down in the forge."  
" This was recently?"  
" Fifty years or so. Or sixty. Yeah, more like sixty.

At those words I noticed that he got tears in his dark eyes and I leaned over and gave him a hug and for a long time we just sat like that, me with the beautiful bracelet holding on to a god who's name I did not know. So upon releasing him I asked for it.  
" You mean… you don't even know me? Have I really been that off the social scene the last decade? That's dreadful!! I really must get a life. I'm Hephaestos. "

'The sooty god' I thought and stopped myself from saying it out loud while Hephaestos held out a hand. Relieved I took it and it struck me how odd it seemed that an encounter should start with a kiss and lead up to a handshake instead of the other way around. Then I realized why I hadn't recognized Hephaestos earlier, it was the first time I had seen him clean!

When I told Hephaestos this laugher came to his eyes instead of tears, and I became all warm and fuzzy when realizing that I had picked this man out of his misery by just one little kiss and some moments of positive attention.  
" Let me help you getting your social life back, Heph!" I offered.  
" And in return?"  
" I want a matching necklace, and perhaps earrings to go with it."

I was in fact joking when I said the last, I wanted nothing in return for helping this god, but he insisted on giving me these things – and a lot of other items of beauty in return for dragging him out of his workshop, getting him a haircut and some decent clothing. Not to mention taking him to all those parties held at Zeus' palace. Then I decided he needed someone to not end up in that vicious circle again, someone more stubborn and proud than the sweet and soft Aglaia. Someone who could tell him off when he was skipping social events to spend time at work instead. I decided to match Hephaestos.

It's always hard with those children of Zeus because they are so many and so dominating. You keep hearing them all the time and everywhere and a lot of other gods and goddesses remain unnoticed. But I made a list of possible candidates for Hephaestos. First out was Eos – who smeared her pink fingerprints all over him and then dumped him because she thought there was someone better to be found around the corner. She always does, and I had to cheer poor Heph up for a week after that event. Stupid, stupid me!

Then I tried some nerieds, but they soon got overwhelmed by their longing for the sea, and then Taigeta, one of Atlas' daughters, but she ran off to nail down Zeus instead. Selene declared 'not interested' as soon as I tried to approach her and Leto felt it too embarrassing to date 'a stepson'. Hello! Hecate was in it for a one night stand and that was it. And Nemesis was more or less going steady with Hermes back then, how incridible THAT might seem. After that I tried to match Heph with Nike, but they were soon fighting like angry sea-monsters.  
" Why should I, the goddess of victory, team up with a looser like you? Nike growled and then she left, slamming the door so the western regions of Olympos shook.

So that left me with – what? Nymphs? I suddenly felt so miserable and useless at what I was doing. Now I was the one crying and Hephaestos who offered comfort instead.  
" You're not useless, Deete", he soothed me. "You've just had some bad luck. And faith knows I'm a hard nut to crack. Perhaps I'm better off alone."  
" No, you're not, you deserve someone. In fact everyone do. I mean, look at weird Hades, even he could get someone. So why not you? "  
" Because…"  
" Because what?"  
" Because she hasn't got it yet!"

" Who? Who are you talking about? Is there anyone I have overlooked?"  
" Yes there is."  
" Who?"  
" Yourself!"


	24. In love and war

**In love and war**

**"**The Cretan ships are on the course to Athens", Zeus said. "Looks like we have a war at hand." He faced the gathered gods and goddesses with a stern face, large hands folded upon some sheets of paper with a lot of scribblings upon. They were all sitting around a large ebony table in an airy and spacious hall in the Palace of Zeus. The large floor-to-ceiling windows were closed against a clear autumn's day and a fountain splashed in the lounge-area two steps beneath the platform where the conference table was placed.  
It would have been a wonderful gathering, Ariadne though, if the subject wasn't so serious.

"Not again", Hera sighed. "What's it now about down there?"  
"The Cretans are demanding that Theseus should be handed over to them to be punished for having killed a Cretan citizen and kidnapped a Cretan princess, Zeus explained."

"A Cretan citizen, give me a break!" Athena exclaimed. "It was a monster for faiths sake. A beast! The Minotaur was a freak, who ate human flesh. Thus it was locked up in a labyrinth, and it was used for gladiator games, for entertainment fights, beast versus man. Several self-appointed heroes have gone to Crete over the years to fight the Minotaur to win glory, only to perish against that monster. Prince Theseus went there a year ago with some Athenian friends to put a stop to it, but they found out that they were set up. The Cretans had planned for the Athenians to be sent into the labyrinth one by one, and there face the Minotaur. Theseus was to enter last, when all his friends were dead. "

"But why? Why would the Cretans do such a wile thing?" Dionsysos asked.  
"Apparently they had come up with a wicked plan to drain the mainland of heroes and warriors and then attack," Athena went on. "With no good warriors left the mainland would be an easy catch. "  
"But that would have taken them years", Hera said. "If even possible, after all new heroes would arrive to take the older's place. After Heracles and Jason's example the whole Greece is crowded with wannabe heroes who can't wait to step in where the older ones depart. "  
"There's more to that scheme", Ares went on. "I was approached in my temple by the Cretan king just before the departure to Athens. He wants to send undercover agents to Sparta and Troy to plant seeds of war. Some plot with kidnapped royalties, no doubt inspired by the way Ariadne was stolen away from them. "

"The wicked man!" Athena snarled. "Sorry Ariadne", she added as an afterthought before turning to her younger brother: "And what did you tell him Ares? I hope you didn't encourage him! "  
"I didn't reply", Ares said, but Ariadne could tell he was lying. She had learned to see in people's minds over the year here, and apparently she was good at it.  
"Ariadne," Zeus turned to her, "you're of Cretan origin, what do you know about these things?"

"Very little", Ariadne met the king's deep blue eyes. "I was just a teenage princess and our father Minos never shared any of the state secrets with his children. What I did know though is that the Minotaur wasn't invulnerable. It couldn't be killed by regular weapons, that is true, and that was why all these heroes became defeated. But it could be killed by its own horns. Something in the DNA I have come to understand later. I - well I told that to Theseus. You all know I fell in love with him before I met this wonderful man sitting next to me."

"Thank you darling", Dionysos gave her a kiss on her cheek and Ariadne went on:  
"But that was not the only part of the foul game. The Minotaur was locked into a labyrinth to ensure that it didn't get out and got itself some snacks among the Cretans. But that labyrinth could also work against a hero who might get away from the Minotaur, or even worse kill the beast. That hero wouldn't find his way out later, and thus perish in there. And no one would know that the Minotaur was dead and the plot could go on. But I lent Theseus a wire, told him to tie it to certain places in the wall and then use it to find his way out again. "

"We all know that", Herakles pointed out. "But that doesn't help us now. "  
"It was as Hecate said", Hermes began. "The magic surrounding the Minotaur is still at work; having poisoned the mind of the Cretans so they seek revenge, seek war!" Then Hermes told the gathered gods about the event when Hecate had conjured up Ariadne's dead mother Pasiphae and the warning they had received.  
"Seems like the Minotaur had the power to affect people's mind too, make them violent and irresponsible. And it didn't affect just Cretans; it affected Theseus as well, made him abandon Ariadne on Naxos."  
"To my delight", Dionysos smiled.

"We are not here to talk about love and passion", Hera snapped. "We are here to stop a war. "  
"Well perhaps love is the way", Hermes said. "And I'm not talking Flower Power Demeter kind of things. Remember what Pasiphae said about a princess. Ariadne is not the only Cretan princess, if Aphrodite can have her younger sister Fedra..."  
"Nonsense," Ares spat. "Let them fight that war! They're up against Athena's generals. They'll be hacked into pieces. "

"I do not want that war", Athena said. "My people will fight and become victorious if that is necessary. But I like Hermes' plan better. "  
"Do we have the time?" Zeus asked. "Where is this princess? "  
"She's back at Crete", Ares smiled. "There's no way you can get her to Athens and Theseus before..."  
"I can fly and get her", Hermes volunteered.  
"And how exactly do you plan to have her cooperate?" Ares scorned. "I'm certain the Cretans would be very happy seeing another princess lost to Athens. "  
"I can talk to her", Ariadne said. "I can visit her in a dream if someone helps me. "

"I'll help you", Athena offered. "Then we need to enlist Aphrodite of course. A marriage between Fedra and Theseus will form an alliance between Athens and Crete and stop this war. "  
"You don't have the time", Ares said.  
"Probably not if we can't stall the Cretans", Hera said. "I think we're going to need the help of Poseidon too. A nice little storm to hold them up."  
"But we don't want them sunk", Zeus said.  
"A divine warning to the king and they'll anchor up at Laros, while the storm passes by", his wife replied.

¤*¤*¤

"You have the manuscript ready? Athena asked as she entered the upper living room at Dionysos and Ariadne's place. It was late in the night, about an hour before dawn. The room was in dusk, only lit by a handful of dim lanterns of divine light. Ariadne was sitting on the coach with a sleepy look on her face, Dion entering with cups and an amphora with - wake-up-nectar".

Ariadne nodded.  
"We went over it one last time yesterday before we went to bed, Dion and I. Making it even more elemental. Now I understand why gods so seldom visit mortals in their dreams, this is a terrible hour to rise."  
"But we have to catch the last minutes of their dreams or they will not remember us when they wake up, Dion pointed out."  
"Indeed", Athena nodded. "And on top of that we might end up with even worse, our dream misunderstood beyond recognition. Now, let's go to work!"  
"Drink this first, darling", Dion handed Ariadne a cup. "And here's one for you too, sis! "

Athena received her cup and sipped elegantly on it before she sat down next to Ariadne on the coach. The goddess of wisdom didn't look tired at all, but fresh and fit and Ariadne envied her for that. She felt like she had fallen asleep only moments ago and wanted to head right back for bed. Suddenly it didn't feel like a good idea at all to try to contact her sister this way. But Athena was not the one to tell such a thing to. Athena was not the one to back out if she thought an idea would have the slightest chance to work.

"Now concentrate the way I showed you", she began. "Close your eyes, try to see your sister. You know the palace of Knossos, you know her bedroom and you know her aural signature. "  
"I... I'm not sure. After all I haven't seen her since I turned divine."  
"It's similar to yours anyway. You two share most DNA. You'll be able to find her. "

Ariadne concentrated and in her mind she was back in the palace of Knossos. Yet it was not the palace she remembered; this was a version seen trough a different angle, the seventh dimension one. And everything looked and felt different. More complicated still easier to understand and navigate through. Larger, since it showed dimensions not perceived by mortals, at the same time providing her with an easier and faster route to her sister's chambers.

And there she found Fedra asleep in her four poster bed, she had shaken off the coverage just as she did when she was a child and she and Ariadne shared bed room. One pillow had fallen to the floor, the other Fedra was cradling like it was a lover. Ariadne felt in her spirit. There was loneliness mixed with boredom and an eager to start make a difference in politics. Yet Minos was still not listening to his children.

Ariadne dived into her sister's mind and located her dreams, it was like entering an absurd landscape where bleating sheep with wings flew across a pink sky, and Fedra stood on a balcony talking to a dark man who she knew from real life. In her real life Fedra could not have this commoner but in the dream he became hers just for a while. But not tonight, Ariadne entered the dream and interrupted the rendez vous.

_Hello Fed! she stepped in sight, gently pushing the dark man away, turning him to a waning smoke.  
Ari? Is that you?  
Yes, it's me! I am on a mission from the gods. A mission of peace. The gods want you and me to stop this war.  
How can we do that?  
There's a boat in the harbour. It has a blue sail with a white, winged helmet. That boat belongs to Hermes. He will take you to your father. You will speak to him; ask him to send an ambassador to Athens instead. To negotiate for a solution.  
Father does not listen to me and you know that. He never listened to any of us!  
He will. With the help of the gods he will. Go to the harbour, find the boat of Hermes. The one with the blue sail with the helmet. The god Hermes' boat. Find it, sweet sister!  
Ariadne sent a mental image of the boat to Fedra, making sure at least the blue sail burned into her sister's mind.  
Ariadne, are you there? On that ship?_

But before Ariadne could reply her sister's brain patterns suddenly changed and then she was awake in her room, woken by the first rays of the rising sun.  
"Ari?" Fedra looked around in the room, a bit disorientated. She shivered in the cold, mumbling about a strange dream and needing to go to the bathroom before she stepped out of her bed. Ariadne withdrew, not sure if she had been successful or not.

"Good work", Athena said when Ariadne opened up her eyes. She remembers the sail at least.  
"Didn't I do better than that?"  
"It might be enough. And the first tries usually fails. Now that was your sister, so it was a bit easier, but I still think you did fine. "  
"But it was so much easier with you guys", Ariadne's looks darted from her husband to her sister-in-law. "Theenie even remembered witch poem I quoted from."

"That's because we are gods, and we were prepared for your arrival in our dreams", Dion said and took her hand. "But don't worry; this is something you train, just as everything else."  
"What do we do now?" Ariadne asked.  
"We wait", Athena said. "We wait and se. Today a royal princess of Crete will have a certain urge to go down to the harbour, and there she'll see a sail she remembered from her dreams. And if we're lucky the things you said will come back to her, Ari."

¤*¤*¤

"So everything happened very fast here it seems", Poseidon was saying, while filling up a cup of wine. "What came to pass really? I was told to make a storm and next thing Theseus has got himself another Cretan princess, seemingly to last this time. "  
"To cut a long story short", Athena begun, "we had Ariadne visit Fedra in one of her dreams and lure her over to Hermes' ship. Then Hermes took her "the fast way" to Laros where the Cretan army was anchored up to wait out your storm. And with the help of Hermes, Fedra could find her father Minos and persuade him to let her go to Athens and talk to Theseus. "

"You make it sound so easy, Athena", Poseidon replied. "But we all know king Minos, he thinks little of his children and have never ever listened to what they had to say. Nor Ariadne neither Fedra. So how come he listened to Fedra now?"  
"Because I did much of the talking really", Hermes said with his usual smug look in his face, squeezing himself down next to Athena in the sofa. Then he excused himself for almost spilling wine on his sister before going on:

"I brainfed Fedra what she was going to say and okay, Minos was distrusting first, but even he can't argue with me, even thought he thought he was arguing with his youngest daughter. He soon found himself snared in the persuasive words of Fedra and agreed upon letting her ride with him during the last leg of the sail to Athens and then seek audience with Theseus. There, up in the Athenian castle, Eros was ready with two of his magic arrows, and although he might appear a bit childish from time to time he sure know how to do his things. So soon the Athenian king and the Cretan princess were looking at each other in quite a different way. And now they are preparing for a wedding."

"But aren't the Cretan furious, facing the fact of losing another princes?" Poseidon looked consternated.  
"No, because this outbreak of love finally broke the last spell of the Minotaur", Athena explained. "The enmity of Crete versus the main land is mostly over. All right there might still be some complaints voiced for quite some time, but the real danger is over. Now both Cretans and Athenians can celebrate instead. Something I do believe they deserve. "  
"I guess everyone is happy today now then", Ariadne smiled.  
"Yeah, save for Ares who had been looking forward to a funny little war", Poseidon scorned.


	25. Mother in Law

**Mother in law**

"If Herakles thinks he's going to date Hebe, he'll have to think again", Ares said with a sour face.  
"Oh, come on!" Athena looked up from her book. "What's your problem, Ares?"  
"He's got a problem with everything these days, just because he lost that war in Garnamara. Without you even being in it", Artemis pointed out.

At those words Ares grabbed at his big sister in a very ungetleman-like way but Artemis backed away swiftly and with elegant steps. She almost giggled when the war god tried to reach for her one more time. Once again she danced away, rounding the sofa Ariadne was sharing with Athena and stared challenging at the war god, wiggling her fingers in a teasing, beckoning kind of way.  
"Come on, Ares! Wanna play catch?"  
"I'll win then", Ares grunted. "You're not used to be the prey, right!"  
"I can be that for a change", Artemis returned. "You know I've studied the beasts. "

While Artemis ran away with Ares after her Athena turned to Ariadne:  
"So it was true then? Herc dating Hebe?"  
"So he told my husband", Ariadne replied. "I see no reason why he should be lying about such a thing. "  
"Was he drunk?"  
"A bit. "  
"Okay." Athena sighed and closed her book. "I guess someone's going to have to tell them to stop sneaking. It's better to come forwards telling the truth, or it'll all be much worse when it bubbles up. "

"Hera's not going to like it, you know," Ariadne said.  
"No, that's very true. Since you have a good hand with people, Ari, would you consider talking to Hebe? Then ask Dion doing the same to Herc? "  
"Sure," Ariadne nodded. "I'll give it a try at least. "

¤*¤*¤

"It's Zeus", Hebe said and stared at her nails. "Mum I can handle all right. She'll know love in spite of not being that found of Herc. She'll yell and scream and call me things, but then she'll see reason. Zeus on the other hand, now that's quite a different story. He has never liked me. He consider me an anomaly, someone who shouldn't have had happened. In spite of his constant womanizing and all his stray kids he refused to accept me in the household. Not until mum threatened to leave him was I allowed to stay at Olympos instead of being sent away somewhere. "

"Hebe, that's not the Zeus I know. Besides Herc's story is exactly like yours, only with opposite roles. He has a problem with Hera, while he thinks his father wouldn't really mind. I think both of you should ease up a bit. Go talk to Zeus and Hera. They both know love – as well as heartbreaks. When they have calmed down a bit I don't think they'll really mind. "  
"Then you don't know them well. Ari, you've been here a year. And it's been a lucky year. You haven't seen Zeus' wrath yet. That's nothing you want to be the receiver of, I assure you."

"And you have been that?"  
"Yes. Several times. That he dislikes me is an understatement. "

¤*¤*¤

The rain was hammering on the roof that night and thunder was heard in the distance. Ariadne lied together with Dionysos and sleep failed them both.  
"Do you think they know? Zeus and Hera I mean." Ariadne asked, striking her husbands' wide, hairy chest.  
"About what?"  
"Herc and Hebe of course?" Ariadne answered.  
"Of course they do. I mean that gossip has been the talk of the town since Herc and Hebe returned from Rhodes. By not travelling together they made it even more obvious that something was going on. "

"So why haven't Zeus or Hera raged, demanding an explanation? Or is your dad out there thundering away his anger tonight before dealing with the situation tomorrow?"  
"I'm not sure. I'm not even sure they have discussed it with each other yet. Hera is still in Argos, taking care of that royal house with succession trouble. "  
"What's going to happen, you think?"  
"We'll see about it tomorrow. Or the day after, the latest. We've both been doing what we could. Now we can only wait and see. Let's sleep now, honey."

¤*¤*¤

No, Zeus wasn't happy about the development, that much was sure. On the other hand he wasn't furious either. He just looked at Herakles and Hebe who stood together in his office, facing the king of the gods. A bit off to the side Dion and Ariadne were standing together with Athena, Hermes and Aphrodite, they had all been asked in for moral support.

"Now, how did this happen?" Zeus asked, looking at the two lovers from behind his desk. The strawberry blonde Hebe was clutching her lover's hand, staring down at her sandals. Herakles was facing his dad though.  
"Just like most love, it just happened," he replied boldly.  
"Do you have a finger in this?" Zeus turned to Aphrodite.

"No." The goddess of love shook her head, blonde curls bobbing. "I had no idea this has been going on. I was trying to patch it up with Hephaestos, and it took all my time and effort. So I wasn't looking to help others. "  
"Perhaps it was Eros playing pranks again," Hermes suggested.  
"Might be," Aphrodite nodded.

"Never mind who's deed it was," Zeus said and folded his hands. "You two have obviously found each other, what an irony! And I don't intend to stand in your way, but I will be honest with you here today. First of all, Hebe, I was far from happy learning that the daughter I had hoped for had another father. It is not your fault and I guessed I took out some of my anger at your mother on you in the past. I know you dislike me. But can we at least behave civilized towards each other? That would gain us both a lot. "  
"But you betrayed mother. Several times," Hebe looked up, boldly facing her step father. "Why do you expect to be treated differently?"

Ariadne gasped for breath behind a hand, she had never expected Hebe to be so brave.  
"My betrayals gave you Herakles, that's all I intend to say here today in this matter," Zeus avoided the subject. Then he turned to his son: "Herakles, you have a history with women which is far from benign. Deianeira, Megara, Hippolythia "you know the list. But now you are together with a goddess – a daughter of queen Hera. Don't mistreat this young lady or Hera's wrath will be even worse than what you've seen so far. And this time I won't be there to help you out!"

"I promise," Herakles confirmed. "I mean Hebe no harm. I can swear by Styx if necessary.  
"No need for that", Zeus cut him off. "Finally – you both will have to deal with Hera too. And I promise you that talking with me here this morning was a piece of cake compared to what you will face from the queen. She's still not over your apotheosis, Herakles. "

"Father," Athena stepped forward. "You're right about Hera. Honestly I think Herc and Hebe need some help here. "  
"Why? They could handle me all right. "  
"We would have helped them if they hadn't." Athena said and Aphrodite let up an agreeing sound.  
"We don't want to see them unhappy because of their love," the latter filled in.  
"I should have known," Zeus smiled. "You are all a sweet bunch. So how are you going to deal with Hera, have you thought about that?"

"I have an idea," Athena began. "I'll go with Hebe and Herc and..."  
"Not you young lady," Zeus stated firmly.  
"Why?"  
"Because as soon as Hera sees you she's going to smell the plot," Zeus told. "Better sending someone who's not that known for scheming as Athena or Hermes. How about you Dionysos of the honest face?"  
"Why, me?" Dion asked with a hesitant voice. I'm not sure I'm up to anything like that.

"Because if you come Hera would expect nothing. Especially not if you drink with her a while first."  
"Perhaps, Dion said. "I've done it before. With Heph among others. But not with Hera. She's... She's a bit too smart. Even with my wine inside of her. "

"Zeus, why are you helping us?" Hebe asked frankly. "Since I can tell that you aren't too fond of our union. If you want to use us to set up mum I'm not sure I want to..."  
"Don't let her get in the way of us!" Herakles exclaimed.  
"No, but..."  
"Because I want harmony in my house." Zeus replied. "Most of all, I want Hera to be smoothed up a bit mostly for her own sake. I hate to see her upset. I believe that when she gets the chance to think over the situation she'll be more relaxed about it. Now, don't you think so, Hebe?"

Hebe sighed.  
"You're right, Zeus. And I will behave civilised, I promise."  
"So are you doing this, Dion?" Zeus turned to his son again.  
"I..." Dion hesitated again, but then Athena marched up to him and grabbed him by the arm he was not holding around Ariadne.  
"Little brother, you love your wife to pieces, and you two are so lucky, she said. Now if you want to help Herakles and Hebe who feel the same way you come with me. I'll tell you my plan on the way. Then you, Hebe and Herakles will arrive at the right moment. "

Aphrodite began to take a step forward, but Athena held up a hand:  
"Aphrie, you'll be as suspected as I in this case, since you're the goddess of love. You better stay at Olympos. As will the rest of you. Come, Dion! "

¤*¤*¤

It was raining again. No thunder this time though. And it was way past midnight, hours since Dionysos and Athena had left for Argos. Hebe and Herakles had left about an hour later, but not one of the foursome had returned to Olympos yet. And Ariadne had begun to worry. She knew that Hera was powerful, almost as powerful as Zeus himself. If she had got mad... If anything had happened to Dion, Thenie, Herc or Hebe...

Ariadne didn't dare to finish the thought. Should she go talking to Zeus? Hesitating she remained sitting by the window, looking at her own reflection in the glass. The same sweet face as ever, reminding her that she was a goddess now, one of the mightiest beings on planet Earth. Yet she had hardly ever felt so helpless.

Then suddenly there was a change in the air, Ariadne could feel it in her veins. A strange kind of surge. It was like a door had opened and closed somewhere. A powerful door closing against something terrible. Then white snowflakes started to fall outside.  
"Dion?" she whispered, putting her hand against the glass. But there was nothing there, not even the faintest trace of reply...

Ariadne remained sitting, watching the snow fall...

¤*¤*¤

She must have fallen asleep, because suddenly she was jerked awake, to that same strange feeling. Yet now it was daylight outside, the ground covered with a white carpet. November snow! That was unusual, even on these altitudes.

The next moment she noted the entrance door opening downstairs, letting in a cold wind of fresh air. She heard voices and energic stamping of feet, no doubt to get rid of snow.  
"Dion?" Ariadne rose expectantly. But when she ran to meet her husband she noted that he was not alone. He was carrying a petite woman in his arms, a weak, shivering being plaided in Dion's red leather cloak.  
"Who?"

Then the woman turned, faced Ariadne. And the goddess noted something very familiar around her dark eyes and sensually curved lips. Was that a sister of Dion?  
"Ariadne dearest," Dion said and walked up to his wife. "Meet Semele! My mother. "


	26. Dionysos' tale

**Dionysos' tale**

"Your mother?" Ariadne rose her brows. "I thought she was dead! "  
"You're right, she was." Dionysos replied. "Before I got her back. "  
"How? "  
"Hera helped me doing it."  
"Wow! I'm impressed. And confused."

I know, I better tell the tale from the start. But first I'll see to it that dear mama gets a hot bath and some nourishment before Zeus is here to make her immortal." He looked into the eyes of the petite woman in his arms.  
"Don't worry, mother. It will be all right."  
"Dion, my son. You keep telling me that! I hear you. And I trust you! You have got me this far. Now take care of your wife, she's been worried about you I can tell. "  
"Mother..."  
"I'll do all right, sweetheart, put me down now."

Dion obeyed and then he turned to Ariadne:  
"Go have the nymphs heat up some wine for us. Then I'll let you know what happened. "

¤*¤*¤ _Dionysos tells_ ¤*¤*¤

Athena's plan went like this: We were going to turn reality around. I was going to Hera with an amphora of wine telling her what I had learned about Hebe and Herakles.

"Your daughter and her beloved fear Zeus," I said, looking at the eternally elegant queen of the gods who was sitting opposite of me in the living room sofa in her Argos home. "So I come to you to ask you to help them. "  
"And why are they not coming themselves, but sending you as an emissary," Hera replied, scratching the head of her pet peacock with perfectly manicured fingers.  
"Because the bad old history between you and Herakles. He fears you will not help them, but Hebe trusts you. She asked me to go. "

"No offence, but why you, Dionysos?"  
"Because of what we both have in our glasses, milady. Honestly, your daughter wanted me to soft you up. For Herakles' sake again. "

At that moment I felt a bit of a tension in my stomach when Hera kept silent while giving me a stern look with her dark, round eyes. The only thing heard was the sparkling of the divine fire in the heath and that bird ruffling his wings. Then Hera suddenly threw her head back and laughed heartily.  
"I guess it's something in the genes. You're all of the same plotting kind. And I admit I'm nothing different. Nevertheless I appreciate your honesty, Dionysos. I'm going to help you. And my daughter. Herakles I care nothing for, but I don't want Hebe to be unhappy. Faithes should know that she hasn't had it easy growing up around her step father. "

"Will you talk to Zeus then?" I asked.  
"I will, Hera said. But first I want to see the loving couple, to make sure that this is for real. Don't misunderstand me, Dion, but I'm not in the mood for practical jokes and drinker's puns. "  
"This is no joke, I assure you, Hera!"  
"Good! Now go get my daughter and her desired one. "

I did as told, and then Hebe, Herakles and I ended up having a similar discussion as the one we had had with Zeus earlier in the day. Finally Hera turned to me:  
"I appreciate what you have done for my daughter, Dionysos. If you support me against Zeus in this case I'm going to grant you a wish. Zeus gave you your Ariadne last year. I can do as well as that. Or even better. "  
"Really? I rose an eye-brow. "  
"I know you believe I was the one behind your mother's death. That's only partially true. I just wanted the poor thing to know who she really was sleeping with. That she was as betrayed as I had been all the time. I was devastated by Zeus' treachery, and I felt hurt and rejected. I wanted his love back and I thought that with Semele gone..."

"But you have his love", I pointed out.  
"I know that. These days. I know he will never be faithful to me, but he loves me in spite. He even accepted little Hebe in the household because he was so scared of loosing me. All the same, I'll give you Semele back. "  
"How's that going to happen?" Hebe asked. Her eyes, so much alike her mothers, looked from Hera to me and then back again.

"I'll show you how to enter the Hades, to get past Styx and the monster Cerberos. And I'll tell you what to say to Hades and how to get Persephone on your side. She's the key, she holds Hades' heart in her hands. He's so scared of losing her. Remember Eurydice. Although you're going to have to do a lot better than poor Orpheus, and I know you can do that. "  
"And then?"  
"Persephone will lead you to Semele and you will bring her back up. "

"But can you make her immortal?"  
"No, only Zeus can do that. That's why we have to trick him. We'll have to change Semeles identity upon arriving up. "  
"Now what is this?" Herakles asked. "Are you trying to set up my father somehow?"  
"No, only distract him, so he won't bother with you two. I will claim Semele a special priestess of mine, who has the borderline magic needed at Olympos. He will agree upon making her immortal for two reasons."  
"Which are?" I asked.  
"He owes me a favour plus he will want her."

"How do you know that, mother?"  
"I know him all too well, Hebe. She's just his kind. After all he wanted her once. Her beauty is preserved down under so for Zeus she will be a wonderful enigma. Too hard for him to resist. And slightly familiar. Now, let's get to work! I'll send Dionysos down to fetch Semele..."

¤*¤*¤

"Here is the place where you will enter the Hades, Hera painted strange symbols on the rock overlooking storming waters some hundred metres down. Translucent crimson and yellow paste, A triangle surrounded by a circle surrounded by a square. And around the geometric figures she painted numbers and signs.  
"What will this do?" I asked her.  
"They're formulae of quantum magic. Upon chanting them, your divine powers will unfold the dimensions, open up an interconnection to the worlds we so mundanely refer to as 'Down under' or simply 'The Hades', even if Hades' kingdom is only a fragment of that vastness. "

I looked at Hera, she seemed so different now. Gone was the queen, replaced by the witch in a plain, orange tunic, brushes and colours in hands and her jacaranda hair tied back. For a second I was scared that this was all a trick, that she was getting rid of me. Then I remembered that Athena was around spying upon us somewhere, and if she had feared some foul play from Hera she would certainly have intervened one way or the other.

But nothing like that happened. Instead Hera told me where to stand, and what to chant, then she let go of me, and I was using my voice to conjure up magic so ancient and so powerful that my hair rose at my neck and my lips ran dry and almost cracked. First nothing happened. Then the reality seemed to sway and bulge around me, and I saw fissures in front of me. Fissures which opened up and became a thin membrane still separating this well known world from what was beyond.

Then even that one cracked and I saw the spookiest place I ever could have imagined open up in front of me. It was like a tunnel trough living materia, mostly dark but shining of hues I had no name for. Its sliminess seemed to try to leak into this present world, threatening its atomic order.  
"Go in there!" Hera said. "Now! Or we will miss this opportunity window and have to start all over again."

With knees of dough I obeyed my queen, entered into that strange cataract, and trough it I travelled inwards or downwards of whatever. Memorized chanting took me across what was obviously the Styx, an outlandish, dark and almost oily liquid with fume looking like human blood and obviously inhibited by large, scaled beings who swam just beneath the surface, sometimes breaking it with their long, slithering movements. Somewhere in the distance I saw something that might have been Charon's raft, and I remembered what dad had told me about that strange being. Charon had been old already at birth and never done anything other than taking dead souls over the Styx. A hybrid between upperworld god and underworld being, no one knew where he came from or how he had been concepted.

On the other side of Styx waited the Cerberus. The being looked only the slightest like a dog. I didn't bother with it though. Orpheus had sang to it, for whatever reason I didn't know. Most certainly to show off, to show Hades and his wife what he was able to do with his magic voice. Putting a monster to sleep convinced them of letting Eurydice go. But I had Hera's seal in my hand, and that one even the king of the underworld had to subject to. In spite of that I was still nervous about the thought of facing the dark deity.

I had left Styx behind and passed through an area where up and down seemed to be in constant shift and where light and dark seemed to be the same gray haze. White noise was filling my ears, like from a huge waterfall, until I realized that it was my own blood I was hearing, enhanced by the strange acoustics around. The acoustics of the fifth dimension. Hera had warned me of this place, it was the place where mortals were affected so hard that they forgot their life above. This was the Lethe.

Yet I didn't forget, I only felt a bit nauseous and Lethe gave way to an apparently endless dessert of red sand. Here and there I saw the souls of mortals walking in aimless directions. Suddenly I thought I had made a mistake and was returning up again, because to the left of me the gray 'sky/roof' suddenly opened up and I saw a sun and drifting clouds on the bluest sky imaginable. Then I realized what I saw. That was the Elysium, the island of the blessed souls. For a short while I saw the island with its green meadows and blossoming trees, then the gray-red heaven closed itself again. Instead I saw a shiny, dark tower in front of me, endlessly rising up into eternity. That was the castle of Hades.

It took me forever to get there, it was farther away than I had thought. But finally was I facing Hades and his queen. Not in a throne room like my father's, far from it. They were resting on crimson cushions in a dark cavity, lit by a strange cold form of divine fire in orblike lanterns and surrounded by alien beings that were beautiful and scary at the same time.

But it was the divine couple I was looking at. Hades looked oddly normal, a pale man with dark, long hair, tied back in a ponytail over a narrow face with a pointy chin and slightly slanted eyes, perfectly human save for red irises. A single, snow white lock fell down over his forehead. And Persephone. So different from the happy-go-lucky girl at Olympos. Here she was quite and solemn, looking centuries older. A crown of gold covered her brown hair and her face was white like ebony, all the freckles gone.  
"Son of Zeus I salute you," Hades spoke. "Time works different here, so we already know what you have come for. "  
"Yes, Semele, my mother. "

Hades nodded to his wife:  
"Show her."

Persephone rose and took my hand, guiding me across a gallery of dark pillars and trough a heavy steel door that opened up as soon as we came near it. Inside was an almost empty room, bathing in yellow light. In the middle of it stood an altar of some transparent material, and upon it a female form was resting.  
"Hades knew," Persephone said. "He knew she had to go back up. So he put her to rest upon arrival. She has been here for almost fifty of your years now. Although in this chamber less than a week has passed. She's as pristine as when she came down here. Not even a trace of what killed her remains. You can take her and go back right now if you want, Dion."

Then she threw herself in my arms.  
"Dion, I miss you so much. I miss you all so much. Mum, Dad, all my sisters and brothers. Your lovely wife – and all the rest of them. Even Ares. Well almost even Ares. I so wish I could come back up with you now. On the other hand I love Hades so much and I know how lonely he is when I'm not around, how much he suffers. He was always the different one, he still is. I guess I'm the only one who understands him."

"Dear sister if you want to come up, I can take you too..."  
"No, but I can't. I can't leave Hades now, it's too early. Besides... "  
"Besides what? "  
"It's probably gray, cold and gloomy up there. And I hate the winters. Now take Semele and go before I change my mind and run away with you." She giggled a bit, showing a trace of the Persephone I knew from above. The girl. Kore.

I gave her one last hug, then I went over to the glass altar and picked up the beautiful woman resting there. The one who was obviously my mother. With her in my arms I began the long journey home.


	27. Thyone's tale I

**Thyone's tale part I**

Ariadne laughed, looking at Athena.  
" What an awesome plan! So now Hera thinks she set up Zeus and Zeus believes he has set up Hera. While you set them both up! But what will happen when they find out?"  
" Then it'll be too late of course", grinned Athena and popped another olive into her mouth. "Hebe and Herakles will already be married. "  
" Why if they take it out on you? Or Dion?"  
" I guess we both can take a bit of a bashing, since we know we did it for a good sake. Then eventually Hera and dad will see reason, understand that this young couple love each other whatever differences their parents might have had in the past. "

Both quieted down when Zeus entered the sunny lounge where the two goddesses were sitting on cloud"cushions.  
" Have any of you girls seen Hera?" he asked.  
" I guess she's in her study", Athena said, nodding with her head in a vague direction, indicating the royal couple's private suite.  
" I'll go telling her that the work on her priestess Thyone has begun."  
" How long will it take?" Ariadne asked, remembering her own downtime.  
" She's in quite a bit worse condition than you, Ari", Zeus told. "After all she was dead for about half a century. I estimate it to take a bit more than three months. I'll see you two around! Zeus gave them both a friendly pat on their shoulders before heading off to see his wife. "

¤*¤*¤

Zeus had been correct in his estimations, a hundred days later Dionysos and Ariadne went over to Hera's office to receive Thyone. Hera's office was large, airy and elegantly furnitured, with ebony chairs covered by soft pillows and thick and colourful carpets from the eastern countries. Blue and turquoise divine light burned in chandeliers, chasing away the shadows of the darkening late"winter afternoon, and keeping the room warm. The queens pet peacocks were napping underneath a desk that wasn't half as cluttered as her husband's usually was. The new goddess' identity was still being kept secret from everyone but the five originally involved.  
" Although I guess Zeus will have to know soon", Hera said upon letting the couple in. "Right now he's busy snowing though, and that should keep him happy for a while. But tonight I'll go talking to him. "  
" So soon?" Dionysos asked. Hera nodded.  
" He has already begun to cast glances on your dear mama. The old chemistry is still working. "

While the nymph began to serve heated nectar Hera turned to Thyone:  
" Now, dearest, how much do you remember of your former life?"  
" Almost..." Thyone looked from Hera to her son and then back again, trying to seek a point of reference somewhere, to find comfort.

" I don't remember you, Dionysos. I'm sorry about that. Having such a beautiful son and not remembering, that's awful I know, but..."  
" Don't worry about that, darling", Hera comforted Thyone. "You never held him. You died in childbirth before he was out of your belly."  
" But I'm not dead now?" Thyone said with a bit more assurance in her voice. This can't be the Hades?  
" Far from it", Hera said. "This is Olympos."

" The gods' home?" Thyone's eyes widened. "Are you all gods?"  
" Yes we are," Dionysos confirmed.  
" And so are you," Ariadne filled in.  
" Divine? Me... Little me..." Thyone seemed to taste the words. Then she breathed in.  
" I guess I will try to remember then." She sipped upon her nectar. "I remember Zeus..."

¤*¤*¤_Thyone Tells _¤*¤*¤

It was my twentieth birthday and I guess I should have been happy, that I should have rejoiced in the gifts my royal parents, the king and queen of Thebes were showering me in. I guess I should have danced all night, ate and drank of the delicacies being served and rejoice in the admirers praising my beauty that evening. Except I wasn't. And there was a very obvious reason for that. Anaxiares, my fiance was dead, he had perished in the war against the ruthless Spartans. He should have been here tonight, we should have been married only one month later. Two weeks earlier had I received the news that he was dead, and now my heart was broken in a million pieces.

Still, the initial shock and grief had worn out and a decision was beginning to form in my mind. I was going to ask my parents if I could become a priestess of the brave Athena, to serve her for the rest of my life and not marry. Because there was no one to replace my beloved Anaxiares. Or so I thought.

At least until I laid my eyes upon that special guest. A friend of my father, king Kadmos, I had been told. He had arrived out of nowhere, and saved my father's life when father had been attacked by earth daemons. Earth daemons my father had actually conceived by mistake, by planting so called "dragon's teeth" " lead into belief that these beings birthed out of soil of Gaia would serve as life guards of him. Instead they had attacked him, and father had fought nine or ten of them down, but fled when they had become too many.

Then this stranger had appeared, holding a stone in his hand.  
" Throw this in the middle of the lot, and they will attack each other instead, he had said.

Father had obeyed and been rewarded with the sight of his pursuers turning against each other. From then on the stranger, who presented himself as Darlan, had stayed with Kadmos, serving as his royal advisor. Because although he looked more like a warrior – a soldier of fortune – he held excessive knowledge about running a kingdom.

He was a mystery man, this Darlan. Not only had he looked like being in his mid 30ies all the time, he had the strength and stamina of a much younger man and held the wisdom of someone who had led a whole life. And sometimes he could disappear without a trace or a word, and be gone for weeks, months, only to come back later and appear as if nothing had happened.

Then he disappeared for the last time when I was four – only to show up at the night of my birthday, not looking one day older than when he had left. An enigma, a true ambiguity. Now he met my looks with his kind, ocean"blue eyes across the dining table. A slight smile and a nod indicating that he had recognized me, in spite of me just being a young child when we last met. A princess who had boldly climbed up in his lap, asking him to tell me a fairytale.

Now his eyes held mine a bit longer than what was common, still I didn't feel uncomfortable, but intrigued. I found myself smiling back at him. His smile had been soothing, calming, making my feel better than I had ever felt since I learned of Anaxiares' death. Darlan was conjuring up a warm emotion in my chest. I relaxed, began for the first time to rejoice in this celebration held in my name.

Later that night I met him again. I had gone out on the crest to get some fresh air, to look at the stars for a while and get rid of the constant buzz of the party ringing in my ears and the sweat travelling down my spine. I leaned over the stone railing, feeling its rouge texture and damp coldness against my hands. Down there the city of Thebes was going to sleep, one fire after another burning out, and the vaxing moon dropping slowly behind the treetops in the west. The only thing heard was the wind howling around the building and the centries' calls as they changed postings down below.

Then I saw a shadow move in the corner of my left eye, and turned.  
" It's a nice evening," I heard Darlan say. "The first real spring evening this year. Almost no chill."  
" Sure is," I said. "Persephone might have returned from the underworld by now."  
" She has indeed," Darlan nodded. "So many springs have come and gone since I saw you the last time, my little princess. You were but a child and now you are a grown up lady, more beautiful than the moon. "

" But you look the same as I remember you, Darlan. Don't you age?"  
" Ah well, a few more grey hairs. Time makes her marks on me too, sweet Semele. Although I have been blessed with her forgetfulness now and then. "

I laughed. He always had a way of making people laugh, feeling well and comfortable around him. Yet now there was something more in the air than mere friendliness. I felt it when Darlan came to stand closer to me, felt something tickling down my neck and warming my being. His presence. His aura.  
" Are you going to stay this time, or are you leaving again?" I asked him.  
" I guess I might stay a while. "

" Where is it you go… when you leave?"  
" I go home, my dear." Darlan placed his right hand on top of my left, pushing his large fingers between mine, making himself present in more way than one. I guess I should have pulled back, but I didn't. For some reason I didn't, but let him remain caressing me softly.  
" I thought your home was here. In Thebes. "

" It is. Also. You father Kadmos has been a man of great hospitality. Yet I have another home. Far away from this place."  
" Where?"  
" It's a bit hard to describe. I might tell you later, Semele. "

I faced him and he caught my cheek in his left hand, looking me deep in my eyes and I saw something there being so different from all the other eyes I had ever been looking into. Something strange, alien. Strength, wisdom, power – and something I couldn't name. Something that wasn't out of this world. The world I knew.

Then I had forgotten all about it when Darlan kissed me. A kiss that felt through all of my body and soul. A kiss that burned away my sadness and my grief over my lost Anaxiares. Not that I forgot him, but Darlan's soothing kiss made me feel like losing my fiancé was not such a dreadful thing at all. That it was something I could handle.

And I was kissing back. I was tasting his lips where flavours of wine and honey lingered. I felt his large swordsman's hands slipping inside my upper tunic, touching my naked back.  
" Soft like velvet", he whispered against my mouth. "Semele, you are soft like velvet."  
" And you… Darlan… I had expected your hands being hard and blistery, after all they are hands of labour… You are such a mystery."  
" Hush! There are ways to keep them soft. I'll tell you… later. "

Darlan and I kissed again, and then he lifted me up with an ease as if I was light as a feather. Anaxiares had been strong, a wrestler in the Olympics and rumoured to have fought down a bear. Yet not even he had carried me with such an effortlessness.

Anaxiares had shown shyness the first time we kissed, hidden behind curtains in the chambers I shared with my younger sisters. But there was nothing like that in Darlan's behaviour. It was a certain self"assurance in the way he carried me down the stairs to his own suite. Like it was the most natural thing in the world that he could take a royal princess of Thebes to bed. And that he knew for sure that we wouldn't meet a single soul on our descent.

The wiser, sensible me should not have let this happen, but she was not in control anymore. Instead a wilder, more ancient being had taken the reins. And Darlan held me in his strong spell. At that time I wanted nothing more in the world than him, I wanted his body close to mine, I wanted his lips to taste mine, his hands to feel himself across the hills and slopes of my body. I wasn't the slightest scared when the oak door to Darlan's suite closed against us, even though I knew very well what was going to happen.

I was burning with sensations beyond description when his fingers figured out how to clasp open my dress and when I felt the easiness with which it felt to the floor. Soft silk, still hot from my body heat touching the cold marble beneath us.

My senses were heightened somehow, they were alert and clear, yet dulled by hormones steaming in my body. My hands knew how to untie the buttons holding together Darlan's tunic, to reveal his slightly hairy chest. I pressed my warm cheek against him, kissed him somewhere beneath the collarbone. He lifted me again, and placed me upon his generous bed, undone in a swift effortlessness. The sheets were soft and smooth and the texture was alien, far from any fabric I knew.

I forgot them when Darlan began to kiss my breasts, let his tongue play games with my nipples, bringing me ecstasy beyond reason. His hair, his silk soft hair was in my hands, his neck was sinewy and strong and his back was covered in hard muscles. This man had used his body for more than lovemaking and writing the royal speeches my father held. Yet there were no scar tissue anywhere, nothing that showed that he had ever been in battle or even in those arms practices that became too real sometimes, and had made Anaxiares losing his pinkie finger some years back. His tanned skin was soft as youths and completely unblemished.

" Who are you, Darlan?" I whispered.  
"" You will know well enough soon", he replied. Then his hands found the way into my most secret place, and he found a pleasure point there I had thought being my very own secret.

I held my breath, forgot everything. Everything but his skilled handling of my body. Everything but the wet desire I felt inside, the thirst my body was screaming out for him to slake.

And then he entered me, Darlan let himself into my caves with such an ease that I knew that nothing of this was new to him. But it was new to me. Anaxiares had had me all right, the night before he marched off to war, but that had been hasty and awkward and made me feel disappointed. Darlan on the other hand was everything but disappointing.

He touched something more, deep inside me, and I almost lost my senses. His thrusts made me exploding with bliss, on and on and on again. When I thought I couldn't take it anymore without going mad he was letting himself come within me. Then it wasn't just seed erupting inside of me, it was something more. Something – divine. At that moment I understood who he was. I was making love to one of the gods. Strange colours came to my eyes by that realisation.

When it was over and Darlan pulled out of me he was holding my still shivering body close, whispering my name over and over again. I looked up at him, met his blue eyes that was smiling beneath wet curls of sweaty, blond fringe.  
" Darlan…" I whispered.  
" Yes, Selene."

" I gave you… me. I think… in return… I need to know."  
" What?"  
" Who you are. "  
" A bringer of a birthday present, sweetie. This was my gift to you. I hope you liked it."  
" I sure did. But…"

" You really want to know? Who I am? The real me?"  
" I do."  
" Not tonight."  
" Why?"  
" There are reasons. Sleep now, sweet Semele. Sleep sleep… "

And he kissed me upon my eye lids and that was the last thing I remembered of that enchanted night.


	28. Thyone's tale II

**Thyone's tale part II**

" I'm sorry," Thyone said as Hera was drying her eyes with the silk napkin Ariadne had handed her. "I didn't know you were… That I was describing your husband's betrayal. "  
" It's okay," Hera said. "It's okay, really. It's not your fault that my husband is such an adulterer. And that he's so… more than divine at doing these things. "  
" You still love him? In spite?" Thyone asked.

Hera tucked up her feet beneath her and nodded.  
" I still do. In spite of everything. Or I wouldn't be around. When he comes to me, the moments he's mine I cannot help loving him. And don't ask me how – but I know he loves me back. Loves me very much. "  
" Or he wouldn't come to you, Hera," Ariadne confirmed. "Or look at you the way he does in idle moments. "

Hera nodded, drying one last tear.  
" Please go on, my dear. I want to hear what happened."  
" But you know it, milady?"  
" Not really. Not from your perspective, the one I'm trying to understand. "

¤*¤*¤_Thyone Tells_¤*¤*¤

The next morning I woke up in my own bed, and my first thought was I had dreamed everything. That I had had too much wine and that my memories of poor Anaxiares had made me conjure up this reverie about father's old friend. But then I knew it was true, that it had actually happened this night of love-making. My body still remembered his touches, my lips still recalled his kisses. I could still taste that flavour of honey they had held. I still got wet when I remembered how he had felt inside of me.

Darlan stayed for quite some time that spring, and every night we me in secrecy. I used to lay awake until the royal household had fallen asleep and then I sneaked down to his suite where he was waiting for me with wine, fruit and sweets. And himself.

We made love every night, and every time Darlan kissed me to sleep and somehow got me back into my own bed, because it was there I woke up every morning as if nothing had passed. In daytime he showed me nothing of what was taking place in the nights, was just behaving according to ordinary royal etiquette. Like he had two sides. One day side and one night side. And my desire to find out who he really was grew stronger every day.

For a month we went on like that, and the spring gave away for the first hot days of summer. The poppies were blooming, like blood had sprinkled the grass; and there were more news about the Spartan war. It seemed to have turned, that Thebes was winning it. A white bull sacrifice to Ares of War had probably helped in that case. It had been Darlan's idea of course.

Then came and went that day I was supposed to have my monthly bleeding. Then the next day and the day after passed by without a single drip of blood. Thus I was beginning to suspect that Darlan's lovemaking had brought fruit.

In secrecy I sought out the Earth Mother in the temple of Hera and she confirmed my suspicions. I asked her:  
" The father is a stranger. How can I learn his identity?"  
" You still meet him I take it. Your rosy cheeks reveal as much when you speak of him. "  
" Yes I do. "  
" Ask him to tell! Let him know that he will not have you another time until he reveals his true identity!"  
" But I can't resist his touches, so there is nothing I can threat him with."

At those words the Earth Mother had reached inside a sack resting beside her and taken out a silver amulet.  
" This is a gift of the great mother Hera. Wear it and you will become strong as her, able to stand up for your threats. After all you want to know who the father of your child really is, right?"

I had obeyed, taken the amulet and worn it that night when I went to see Darlan. The Earth Mother had been right, it worked according to her words. I had made Darlan to give me that promise. At that moment he had looked so incredible sad.

" I will tell you the truth, my dear Semele. After all you have the right to know. Before I do that I will tell you that whatever you might think of me afterwards, my heart is filled with love to you. Because you are so pure, so young and so filled with sweetness. "  
"Okay, then let me know!"

Darlan, sitting opposite me on the cushions had taken my hands, hesitating a bit before he said anything more, as if he was already regretting the promise he had made. Then he breathed in.  
" Semele, I am Zeus. The divine king. "  
" Zeus? No! don't say such a thing! Darlan, this is nothing to joke about. The gods rage is nothing you toy with. They can destroy you as easy as I trample out an ant that has sneaked into my chambers. "  
" Semele, it is true! I don't make jokes like that. Not to the woman I love. Look at this and tell me if you believe me then!"

Darlan lifted his right hand and then I saw it. Little fizzing blue-white sparkles playing around his fingers. Miniature thunderbolts. Intrigued I reached out and touched and a snapping sensation made me pull my hand back fast.  
" Ai! What is that – magic?" I asked.  
" It's called electricity. It's the force that makes thunder and lightning, whatever I'm behind it or not. It's strong and vice and beautiful. It can kill a mortal easily, and still it is diminutive sparkles of electricity that make our brains work. And the capacity of my immortal being makes me able to control it. In the future I will teach the mortals how to use it to make light and heat and propel amazing things. But it's yet too early for that."

I began to believe him when he said that. Only a god could speak like that, know such things. On top of that it would explain all the mystery surrounding him. That he did not age, that his body carried no scars and that he seemed to know things he really shouldn't. I asked:  
" If you are Zeus? What are you doing here then, in Thebes and not being on your magnificent Olympos? "

" My mission here from the beginning was to establish a safe and strong rule in this area. To give the people living here safety. Law and order. Your father, Kadmos, was just the man for it. I made him king, helped him rule the first years. But I have my own kingdom to take care of, the kingdom of all the gods. So I have to go away now and then to do my own work.

I came back here last month just to say hello to your father. I knew he was doing all right and that he would be victorious against the Spartans, the only reason for my visit was in fact pure pleasantry. A social call. I wanted some time off from the unruly and demanding gods and some change of environment. Then I ended up falling in love and staying a bit longer than planned. "

" Dar… Zeus…" I looked down at my hands and then into his sapphire eyes again.  
" Semele?"  
" I am… I'm pregnant. I carry your child beneath my heart. That was why I wanted to know. "  
" Now that you know," Zeus said, "what will you do with this knowledge? "

It had started to rain outside, a soft summer rain drumming against the closed blinds, and I wondered if it was Zeus doing this or if it had just started by itself.  
" I will… rejoice in the time we have had here. But I know I cannot be with you. That you must go home to your mountain home and your queen, the mighty Hera. I revere her. I don't want to do anything against her will… And yet – I have."

I gazed at my hands again and Zeus took me in his arms, held me close for a long time, softly caressing me while tears blurred my eyes.  
" Hera will not harm you. I will protect you and the child. Yet I will leave tomorrow. Tonight will be the last time we're together for quite some time. Then I will come back to you to make sure the child gets well taken care of. I will mark the baby so that no harm will befall upon her or him, even if the father is not known. Mark my child so the mortals will know he's protected by the gods."

" So I cannot tell anybody… that the father is you? "  
" In time you will be able to. First no one will believe you of course, they will just see an infant. But there will be signs, and they will reveal the child's true heritage. Trust me, Semele, dearest. All will be well."

Zeus had kissed me then and we made love the last time. And he kissed me to sleep the last time, and when I woke up in my own bed the next morning I knew that I would never see him again. Yet I did not despair, I carried his baby, and for that child's sake I had to be strong.

But the Earth Mother was pestering me, every time I went to the temple of Hera she was at my back, threatening to reveal my pregnancy if I didn't tell her how the father was. I know that I couldn't tell her the truth, because I knew that she would turn right to Hera, revealing the divine husband's adultery. And Hera's wrath would be over me before I knew it. And I doubted that taken by surprise not even the mighty Zeus would be able to save me.

I remembered the tales of earlier loves of Zeus, like Io and Callisto and what had happened to them when Hera had found out. I figured out I needed a lie for the Earth Mother, and in the end I decided that a refined version of the truth was the best lie.

" The father is king Kadmos' adviser Darlan, only that his identity has been a secret up until now. But he told me his real name. He is of royal blood too, but in a land faraway. He had to go back there, that was why he didn't tell me. He didn't want me to have my heart broken a second time, you know I was betrothed to the late Lord Anaxiares. Now Darlan has left, duty calls him back to his homeland, but he has promised to take care of the child.

With those words the Earth Mother was seemingly pleased, little did I know that she was having suspicions and went right with them to her goddess. And little did I know that Hera would find out and seek out her revenge…

¤*¤*¤

All went silent as Thyone, who had once been Semele went silent. Ariadne looked at Hera, then to Thyone then back to Hera again. The air was tense, after all Thyone had more or less accused the divine queen of murder, and right into her face too.

But when Hera spoke up her cheeks were slightly red and there was moist in her eyes.  
" I'm sorry", she said and faced "Thyone. I'm sorry. I did not kill you, but… You were so delicate. So slender, so thin hips. And your child was big, Zeus' offspring always are. Ask me, I've carried five of them. On top of that, birthing a god is not an easy labour for a mortal woman. So strong forces in motion, such a life power, striving for all the strength it can find.

I should have been there for you as the real Earth Mother. I should have helped you, or at least sent Eileithya, my oldest daughter. But I could not. I could not face my husband's adultery. And I let you die. I'm sorry."  
" Don't be." Thyone looked into the queen's eyes. "You made up for it after all. "  
" I did," Hera said. "I knew, when my rage had worn off, that I had to. But I decided to wait until the time was right. After all Hades had put you in the hibernating chamber, he knew you would be sent up again. The right time did come, I could help a daughter of mine, by having Zeus so preoccupied that he did not stop her from marry one of his sons."

" But there's still one thing I don't understand," Dionysos said when Hera finished.  
" What?"  
" How come I'm a god? If Selene was a mortal back then? "  
" Because her mother was a demigod," Hera told. "Queen Harmonia, the wife of Kadmos was none other than a daughter of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. "

" My grandmother is Aphrodite? Thyone said and touched her chest. And I thought I'd had more than my share of surprises."  
" She is", Hera confirmed. "That's why we must reveal your identity soon. Aphrodite has the right to know and will eventually find out for herself. Her divine spirit must have been passed on trough Harmonia and Semele until it reached you, Dionysos. And mixed with the strong powers of my Zeus it became enough to make you divine. "

" Hera," Ariadne couldn't help asking – she felt that this was the night of truths; "what happened to Callisto and Io? I mean really? Did you harm them?"  
" Callisto was killed by a hunter who mistook her for a bear. Nothing strange in that really, she was a large woman in many ways and she was protecting herself from the cold winter's day by wearing a full fur of a bear, scared the crap out of this poor man. None of it was my doing. "

" And Io."  
" I pursued her all right. But only to learn the truth. That stupid cow kept feeding me lies, one more outrageous than the other. And if there's something I cannot take, it is lies. Not from my husband and not from anyone else."

¤*¤*¤

" So you are really Semele?" Zeus was wrinkling his impressive brows looking at the newly deificated woman who had sat down in front of him in the lounge, the sun shining off her bluish black curls, her sole obvious heritage from her mortal father king Kadmos.  
" I should have known," Zeus went on. "I felt there was something familiar in you. But certainly… Hera, what's the idea behind this, bringing up one of my old loves? Because it can't be just kindness towards Dionysos! "

Hera faced her husband with a smug look upon her face.  
" Honestly, to keep you busy. So you wouldn't interfere with my daughter's marriage plans. When you were occupied with deificating Thyone I had their marriage blessed. "  
" You mean Hebe? And Herakles? "  
" Exactly. Hebe might not be your favourite, but I couldn't have you ruining her this piece of luck, even if Herakles is your son. "

Zeus gave Hera a strange look and Ariadne held her breath. Was this thunderbolt time, would she see his infamous rage this time, this temper she had yet to behold? Instead Zeus began to laugh. A heartily and roaring laughter that shook the very foundation of Olympos. And he laughed and laughed, tears streaming down his bearded cheeks.  
" Hera, Hera, honeypie!" he chuckled. "I must say we suffer from a lack of communication here, in spite of being married for almost 800 years now. I never intended to stop Herakles and Hebe. Instead I guessed that it was you I needed to collect a favour from. A favour I was going to use for Herakles and Hebe… "

" Really!" Hera was looking in surprise at her husband. "Then we are even I take it. By the way I guess we both got set up!" Then Hera began to laugh too.  
" We think ourselves being so smart, man. In spite we end up getting fooled by the children all the time. I guess that's the parent's lot after all. Still I wonder who came up with this. Because I love my sweet little Hebe dearly but she's not clever enough. And honestly, Zeus, neither is your buff Herakles. "

Zeus nodded.  
" Athena! She's suspiciously absent, but none other than her crooked mind could have weaved this together. Dionysos!" he called out. "Now get some of your best wine, because whatever really took place this winter, it all turned up for the best. And we sure must drink to that! "


	29. Aura

**Aura**

Another year passed. Spring turned into summer, and then autumn, winter and spring again. Ariadne bore Dionysos a daughter – Danine, a strong and healthy little girl, which after all was to be expected, since she was a true goddess.

Thyone decided to stick to that name after a few days of thinking, letting it mark the start of her 'second life' as she expressed herself. She had a sweet little house built not far from Dionysos and Ariadne's place, so little Danine could run over to grandma whenever she liked. Contrary to what Ariadne and many more had thought Zeus showed no interest at all in Thyone. And she didn't seem to mind particularly. She was more interested in catching up on the life of her son and socializing with her daughter in law and grandchild.

" I fell in love with a man who looked differently, smelled differently and I hadn't the slightest idea about who he was and that he belonged to somebody else", Thyone told Ariadne when the latter had asked about Zeus. "Then I died to the sound of victorious Thebans singing nasty songs about the defeated Spartans while my lower body became split in two. Only to wake up here with a son who looked just like the age I felt. And a father to him looking the same age. Weird."

" That's what gods and goddesses do. Looking like 20 their whole immortal life", Ariadne replied. "Yet I know, it takes a while to get used to. That Zeus in all his thousand year old wisdom looks like someone just past adolescent. "  
" And behaves like that now and then", Thyone sighed.

Herakles and Hebe had returned to Olympos after their honeymoon cruise aboard Poseidon's magic ship – the Crane and Apollo wrote a long song epic about the story of Thyone and Zeus, Hebe and Herakles and Dion's rescue of his mother.

Everything actually felt too good to be true, and at those moments Ariadne always begun to suspect that something was going to happen that would break the peace into pieces. That something really really bad was lurking in the mists of the future.

Then Olympos got some far away visitors. Two large and imposing, exotic looking gods named Baal and Hadad arrived at the gates of Olympos. They wanted Zeus to straighten out a disagreement between themselves. To rule out who was the divine owner of a fertile land between two mighty rivers and with thousands of thousands of mortals living there. Zeus sat with them for days and days and eventually had to ask in the reasonable Athena for help.

Later Hermes and Iris were sent out to call in witnesses who could give testimony about whom of the two gods had given this fertil region the most benefits. And from other corners of the world an assembly of gods arrived. First came the couple Hammon and Tanit, noble deities of wisdom and good friends of Athena. They were followed by the dark"skinned Aegypti gentleman Thot, a petite and elegant and equally dark"skinned goddess called Ishtar, the motherly Ashera, the jovial and talkative Melqart and the arrogant Israeli Jahwe. And Aura.

First Aura appeared like nothing but a spoiled and rather daft nymph. Yet she was a goddess all in all and she was not lacking any of the qualities that made Aphrodite so irresistible among men. And it soon became quite obvious whom she had set her mind upon. Ariadne's own Dionysos. Perhaps it was the wine he was serving on that night of "Welcoming the honourable guests", perhaps it was his kind, brown eyes or perhaps it simply was the case that Aura and Dion had been lovers in the past. Nobody really knew but Ariadne was soon alerted to the fact that Aura was flirting with her husband.

Ariadne was sitting by Hestia's hearth listening to some gossip Ashera had from her homeland when suddenly Artemis alerted her about Dion and Aura.  
" You better check on your beloved, Ari, the goddess of hunt warned her. Or you'd be all 'Heraed'."  
" What do you mean?"

In reply Artemis only nodded in the direction of the dance floor where Aura was clinging suspiciously close to Dionysos.  
" It's just a dance for Faith's sake", Ariadne shrugged. "Haven't we all done that from time to time without any reason at all."  
" No, we haven't" Artemis replied.  
" No, perhaps not you", Aphrodite cut in. "But I can tell that this Aura has something planned for the dear god of wine. So if you want to be on the safe side, Ari, you'd better go stealing him back, if just for one song. That would break the magic and Dion will come to his senses, no matter how much of his own beverage he has tasted."

Ariadne looked from the goddess of love to the dancing couple and back again. Then she turned to the two older goddesses:  
" Hestia, Ashera? What do you think?"

It wasn't better than the goddesses were of different opinions. Hestia didn't think there was any danger to speak of, she had 'seen many couples dancing like that before without any real meaning'. Ashera though was of a different opinion:  
" A dance that look innocent one moment might as well turn hot and serious the next. And I know Aura's kind. They have no respect for other women's men. Without mention any names I can point out several in this very room who…"

" Certainly", Artemis interrupted her. "One is setting next to you."  
" And just what is that supposed to mean?" Aphrodite spat.  
" You know very well what I'm talking about. Not to mention how you treat your own husband. "  
" Now shut the…" Aphrodite rose, pushed herself between Ashera and Ariadne and lashed out out for Artemis who avoided her slap easily, still with a scornful smile playing on her rosy lips.

Hestia caught Aphrodite's arm:  
" Stop it, young lady. And you too Artemis! You two fighting does not solve any of Ariadne's dilemma. Now…"  
" Now they're gone," Ashera told as a matter of fact.  
" Who?" Hestia said.  
" That very dancing couple of course. Ariadne, if I was you…."

Ariadne didn't even listen to what the visiting goddess was going to say, she rose quickly and flew across the floor, almost crashing into a nymph with a food tray. She managed to dodge the very last second and landed in the middle of the dance floor, almost smashing into Athena and Thot this time.  
" Oups, sorry! You've seen my husband?"  
" Nope", Thot shook his dark head.  
" He was here a while ago", Athena confirmed, "dancing with Aura. But they must have left the floor after the last dance. "

Artemis cursed and jumped in the air again. From her vantage point over the dancing couples she scanned the room for Dionysos and Aura. No one was to be found.  
" No…" she whispered to herself, ice travelling down her spine and fear gripping her stomage with a clawed reptile hand. No, this can't be…

There was Ares, helping himself to more food and Zeus who was dancing with Selene. There was Poseidon asking Aphrodite up for a dance and there was Herakles involved in a drinking competition with Melqart and Hephaestos. Aeolus and Auxesia were dancing on a table. Apollo over at the stage was receiving a request for a song by Ishtar and Hammon and Tanit were still dancing together.

There was Persephone having a toast with doc Asklepois. There was Nemesis slapping Eris in her face, and Ariadne couldn't help believing the latter deserved it. There were Nike and Hecate sitting with their heads close together, no doubht sharing some juicy gossip and Eros tipping over the punch bowl. But no Dionysos. No Dionysos…  
" Don't panic," she told herself. "Perhaps he just had to go. A lot of wine does has this effect after all. "

But there was no Aura around either. Ariadne could feel panic bubbling up in her throat, and she started to do it the other way. Started to feel in Dion's spirit instead, see where she could locate those familiar and beloved energies.

Then a hand fell on her arm.  
" What you doing hanging up here?" Helios wanted to know. "Care for a dance instead? "  
" Ah, well… no… I mean yes…"

She felt she couldn't turn the sun god down, she had to act normal. After all there was probably a reasonable explanation to her husband's disappearance. As well as Aura's, she might have needed to go too. But after two dances with Helios and one with Zeus she found herself looking again. She strode up to the bar, where Ganymedes was serving more beverage. But there was only this Baal flirting with Eos, who looked attracted but not enough so at the moment. And Pan was sitting two chairs away looking oddly miserable for being him.

Usually Ariadne would have stopped, asking the normally so cheerful god what was wrong. But this time she let Pan sit there by himself with his cup and went on to look in other corners of the great hall. Hephaestos had managed to drink Herakles out and Hebe was arguing with her husband where he laid unlistening with his head on the table in a pool of wine, his blond curls turning red and wet.  
" Barbarians", she could hear someone comment behind her. That Jahwe guy. She ignored him and went up to Apollo by the stage who was taking a break while four of the muses were performing an instrumental with a lot of drums and bass.  
" You've seen my husband?"

Apollo didn't seem to hear.  
" Bagpipe!" he was grousing instead. "That idiot dark goddess wanted me to take up the bagpipe. They can do that up in dark Caledonia or Hyperborea for all I care. But I'd never touch one of those squeaking repulsivities. "  
" Ishtar wanted you to play the bagpipe?" Ariadne asked.  
" Yeah! I told her she had to go further north"west if she was to have any luck with that request. To put it nicely."  
" Wasn't very polite against a guest. "  
" What do I care", Apollo snorted and reached for his lyre again when the muses ended their drumming.  
" What's with him? Ariadne asked herself. Apollo who normally was politeness himself, especially towards ladies, seemed everything but well behaved tonight.

She continued her counter clockwise search and stumbled into Aphrodite and Poseidon who let go of each other as if the other one was on fire. Ariadne ignored them, it wasn't Poseidon's adultery she cared about. Neither did she bother with Ares and Hadad who were exchanging war stories or the fact that she almost stumbled over Priapos who was snoaring drunkenly in a corner.

But then she ran into Hera, who seemed to be on the same kind of quest.  
" Seen Zeus?" she asked Ariadne.  
" Not since we danced together. And that was about half an hour ago."  
" Which during a lot of things could have happened," Hera replied. "The bastard! I saw very well how he was looking at this little slut Aura earlier tonight. "

" Then I guess he got beaten by his son", Ariadne said, and now she couldn't stop the tears from flooding her eyes.  
" What's the matter, dear?" Hera took hold on Ariadne's shoulders. "You think your Dionysos went off with…"  
" Y.. yes. Oh, Hera, what am I going to do?"  
" This is the first time you suspect him of betrayal?"

Ariadne nodded silently.  
" Then go confront him! Go there now! Some men can be stopped if caught in the act. Unfortunately not Zeus. Nor our son Ares who Hephaestos so cleverly snared in a net once when he was bedding Aphrodite. Ares and Aphrodite became the laughing stock of Olympos all right, but that didn't stop them from continuing their affair. I guess like father like son. And with a woman like Aphrodite I suppose anything goes. "

" But do you think Dion is that kind of son too?"  
" Unfortunately yes. They all have it in them more or less. Well, perhaps not Hephaestos, he's too much of a workaholic. But the rest of them certainly do. Still, if you want the chance to catch them in the act I guess you have to fly at the moment. "

" Home?"  
" No, Dionysos might be drunk, but he's certainly not that stupid. No, go to the guest's wing. Aura sleeps on the second floor, third last suite to the left. Hurry!" Hera gave Ariadne a slight push in the back, and the young goddess took off in the air. Behind her she could hear Hera exclaim:  
" Zeus! There you are! I've been looking all over…"

¤*¤*¤

Familiar sounds were heard from the second floor, third last suite to the left. The sounds of love-making. Aura was a very noisy person indeed. And the familiar male grunts could be no other than… Hera had been right! Dion was of the same kind as his father. And all the rest. Tears came to Ariadne's eyes and she turned to flee. She knew that she should had done as Hera told and confronted her husband right away. But she couldn't. She just couldn't.


	30. The Water of Styx

**The water of Styx**

Ariadne wanted nothing more of what she was hearing from the open window to the guest suite. She didn't want to hear Aura's screams of ecstasy or the groans of her beloved to reach her eyes. Covering her ears she started to run down the slope from the guest wing. At that time she was back in mortal mode again, more or less forgetting that she could fly. Instead she skidded on the wet grass and slipped, hurting her ankle in the fall.

But someone caught her before she hit the ground.  
"Ari! Glad I found you, dearest. Artemis said you were looking for me and that you were quite upset. "  
"I… Dion!"

Ariadne looked at her husband, he was wearing a different tunic, otherwise he looked just like he had done the last time she saw him. Puzzled she turned to the open window in the wing where the sounds of love-making could still be heard.

Dionysos followed her glance:  
"I guess Hermes got lucky tonight. "  
"Hermes??"  
"Yeah, that's him up there with Aura. Can't be Ares, he's still at the party discussing swords and sandals with Hadad. And Heph is probably too drunk to get it up. Not to mention poor Herc. Hebe will have his neck tonight for making such a fool out of himself. "

"And you? Where did you go?" In spite of the relief Ariadne could hear a hint of accusation in her voice. Dion probably heard it too but chose to disregard it.  
"Spilled some wine on my tunic, he looked down at his chest. Had to go back home and change, only to realize that the nymph had taken most of my party wear to laundry. This is an old one I had tucked away, hope it does not look too out of fashion. "

"No, don't you know vintage is back", Ariadne couldn't help smiling at her husbands awkward look. Shall we go dancing?  
"Certainly! Haven't been shaking my but that much lately!" Dionysos hooked arms with Ariadne and together they returned to the Palace of Zeus, Ariadne jubilant in her chest. It had been Hermes, it had been Hermes all the time! Not her Dion! Now it seemed a bit strange that she hadn't noticed that the messenger gods was also absent. She had obviously been so busy looking for her husband that she hardly noticed the other gods for real. "Not Dion" had been her only thought upon encountering anyone.

¤*¤*¤

There were even more people on the dance floor now. The only ones missing seemed to be Hermes and Aura of course. And that Jahwe fellow. The rest were swirling around gaily, some gracious and agile others drunkenly stumbling about out of beat with the music.

Some of the late-comers on the floor were the Graces. Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thaleia were triplets and hard to tell apart even in the everyday social life. And tonight, wearing the same kind of light-green peploses and stage-makeup Ariadne had no clue about who was who. Not that it really mattered at the moment of course.

They were dancing with the winds. Notus of the south, Apeliotes of the east and Boreas of the north. Zephyros of the west on the other hand had been dancing with his wife Iris until Dionysos and Ariadne decided to switch partners with them.  
"Who's who really?" Ariadne asked the Western wind.  
"Dark Notus is one dancing with Thaleia. The sleek redhead Apeliotes is dancing with Euphrosyne and fair Boreas has gotten Aglaea in his arms," Zephyros smiled with self-confidence.  
"Nope, that's Aglaea dancing with Apeliotes," Athena cut into their conversation as she was spinning by in the arms of Helios.

Zephyros snorted.  
"And they say me and my brothers look alike! Those triplets really are in a league of their own."  
"Well if it wasn't for your hair colours I wouldn't be able to tell you apart either", said Ariadne, smiling at the strawberry blond son of Eos before letting him lifting her up and spinning her around in the air.

After Zephyros Ariadne danced with Ares, Eros, Helios' father Hyperion, Poseidon's son Triton, Thot of Aegyptos and the wind gods supervisor Aeolos before she tiredly followed her husband home. At that time Eos was already hurrying off to work, although it would take long until a sun manager would be on duty. Helios was snoring the drunk's sleep on a coach in the hall and Apollo was nowhere to be seen.

¤*¤*¤

The day after all chaos broke loose. Luckily enough all the guest gods save for Thot had left.  
"What is happening?" Ariadne asked Artemis, listening to the arguing voices and high sobs coming out of the office of Zeus.  
"Euphrosyne claims being raped by Boreas tonight or early this morning. Apparently she left with the Northern wind, as did her sisters with two of the other winds. "  
"Notus and Apeliotes?" Ariadne asked rhetorically and the goddess of the hunt simply nodded.

"And did they – do it?"  
"I don't know. "  
"Shall we find out?" Ariadne nodded to the closed double doors but Artemis shook her head.  
"Too ugly and filthy in my opinion. I don't want to get involved. Besides, I have a forest full with games waiting for me. Britomartis just let me know she had spotted so many deers you wouldn't believe. "

At the same time the doors opened up and Iris came out!  
"You both go in there! Zeus wants intelligent people to listen to this! Anyone knows where Athena is?"  
"She's in the library. Helping our guest Thot finding some information. "  
"Well well," Iris smiled indicative but Artemis only sniffed.  
"It's Athena you're talking about! I'm certain all they do is looking into dusty old books. And I'm sorry but I think I pass on dad's invitation at the moment. "  
"How about you, Ari?" Iris pleaded.  
"Don't worry, I'm going in. You go find Athena, Ir!"

She slid past Iris and in through the huge, gold-inlaid oak doors. There was the goddess Eurynome with her teary-eyed daughter Euphrosyne cradled in her arms and to the sides of them stood Thaleia and Aglaia. Aglaia was staring at her feet while Thaleia held her neck high, looking firmly at Zeus who was sitting by his desk.

While Ariadne slipped in beside Aphrodite and Selene she noted that Zeus' body-language showed irritation and anger. His eyes were dark, shoulders tense and his knuckles white.  
"You were raped, you say?"the divine king turned to the auburn-haired goddess who was still drying tears from her cheek with a lace handkerchief. Euphrosyne only nodded.  
"Now speak up! Tell us what took place. Before we've heard what happened tonight we can't even begin to talk about taking action. It's a dire accusation saying that anyone raped you. "  
"But why should she lie about such a thing, Zeus?" Eurynome returned.

Zeus looked at the woman he had once loved:  
"I'm not saying she's lying. I am urging her to speak. So far she has given us nothing more than being raped by the god of the North Wind. "  
"Boreas raped no-one," Notus cut in. He was standing at the opposite side of the room together with Apeliotes, Zephyros and Aeolus. Next to them were Apollo and Ares, they were exchanging mindspeech, Ariadne could tell. Also in the room were Poseidon and Hera with serious looks upon their faces and Hephaestos, slumped in the sofa with a dire hangover.

"What do you know about that?" Thaleia snorted.  
"Why this sudden unfriendliness," Notus began. "Tonight..."  
"That was then, this is now! I wish I too had..."  
"I sure didn't rape you, Grace, if anything it was the other way around! "

"Stop it!" Zeus said. "What you two did is of no matter here, I want to know what happened between your siblings. "  
"Did you..." Aglaia whispered to her sister. Thaleia nodded.  
"I told Boreas 'no', Euphrosyne suddenly started. "But he wasn't accepting that. Just because my sisters had... He forced himself upon me. He hurt me. He soiled me, now I'm dirty, filthy and wasted. "

Euphrosyne gasped for breath, and looked like she was about to cry again, tears welling up in red eyes, but then she started to tell. Apparently the triplets had all trotted off with one wind each. But while Thaleia and Notus had shared a mutual bliss Aglaia had told Apeliotes she wasn't in the mood for love. Apeliotes had politely accepted that, kissed her hand and wished her a good night's sleep. Boreas on the other hand, always the most grim of the four brothers, hadn't taken no for an answer, but instead forced himself brutally upon poor Euphrosyne.

"And where is he now?" Hera asked, looking at the other three winds.  
"I don't know", Zephyros replied. "At home. Or out working. Although there's no weather to speak of going on out there," Zephyros nodded at the calm, overcast day outside the large office windows.  
"Go find him!" Zeus ordered. "Or have your wife doing it for you; she's faster at these things. "  
"She's fetching Athena", Ariadne let up her voice.  
"That shouldn't take her so long, she might've been caught up with something else," Hera guessed.

"So what are you planning for Boreas?" Eurynome asked the king of the gods. I think he deserves a ban. For at least ten years for what he did to my daughter. "  
"If it is true that he raped your daughter," Zeus replied.  
"Don't you trust her words?" Eurynome suddenly sounded angered, wrinkling her brows together.

"I believe nothing until I have heard both sides of the story," Zeus simply stated. "I am not willing to judge any man or woman, any god or goddess unheard. "  
"But he's certainly going to lie," Eurynome argued. "He's going to claim Euphrosyne was as willing as Thaleia was. "  
"Doesn't matter", said Zeus. "There are ways to find out. There's always the last resort. "  
"No, please!" Eurynome suddenly turned white in her face. Not that!

"I have no fear of it", Euphrosyne said, letting go of her mother. Suddenly there was a new stature over the formerly so humbled Grace. "I know I'm speaking the truth so I fear nothing. "  
"Will you force it upon my brother, Zeus?" Notus was asking the king at the same time.

Ariadne turned to Aphrodite asking:  
"What last resort? Why is everyone looking so scared suddenly?"  
"The water of Styx," Aphrodite said, also with fear in her voice, lavender eyes going wide. "It is terrible, they say. If you drink it and lie, you'll fall into a coma that lasts a year. And then you lose your memory and immortal traits for nine consecutive years. You can't breathe the air of Olympos at that time; you're banned to walk endlessly on Earth, scared of men and crowded places, seeking solitude in the wastelands unable to find rest. "

"Geee..." Ariadne staggered. "I heard something about it before, but I didn't think it was real. "  
"It is," Aphrodite confirmed.  
"But how does... how does it know that you're lying."  
"Something with the bodily flues and the connections in the brain," Selene said. "I don't really know how it works. I don't even think Zeus knows. Perhaps Hades does. Only thing certain is that it does work. "

"Who has... been drinking it before?" Ariadne wanted to know. "Who became affected by these terrible things?"  
"No one", Aphrodite said. "No one has ever dared to lie in front of the Styx water. They rather tell the truth than facing its effects. "  
"But then you can't know if it works that way, right?" Ariadne asked.  
"Perhaps it's enough with the fear," Selene said. "The fears of things like that happening to you will make you tell the truth. And in such a way the water is working."

¤-¤-¤

Two rather small lead cups were placed in front of the two deities in the great hall. Lead cups filled with the dreaded Water of Styx. At first glance the transparent liquid seemed just like ordinary water, but if you took a closer look it appeared to swallow the light and to radiate some kind of creepy, oily darkness. The reflections from it held a feeling of doom and fragility, not even the reflected sunshine seemed strong and healthy. This was the water of death, taken from the river that marked the border of the dark kingdom of Hades.

Hermes was standing behind the deities with the lead amphora in his hand. He has been the one who had gone down under to fetch the fearsome liquid, and he still kept a little in the amphora – just in case.

"You know what's at stake here", Zeus was saying where he stood in front of the deities. "You know what happens to a drinker who lies. Or should I repeat it?"  
"My daughter is no liar!" Eurynome was whispering from behind where Ariadne stood, cradling the hand of Dionysos.  
"No one really think so," Athena turned to look at the older goddess. "But the truth must be brought beyond reasonable doubt. Or we will not have peace here. We must be able to trust each other. Especially when it comes to such grave accusations as rape. That's after all one of the greatest crime you can perform against another deity."

Ariadne realised that it was true. Among the immortals murder could not exist. But there were other crimes almost as terrible. Ariadne could well imagine what it must feel like being raped by another god. Painful and humiliating. Heartbreaking. She looked at Euphrosyne, standing pale but rigid in front of the cup. And then to Boreas. The god of the North Wind looked slightly in a better shape, but he had droplets of sweat on his forehead and his pale, gray eyes were darting to and from, avoiding the piercing looks of Zeus.

"You will not die of course," Zeus said. "But you will experience pain beyond description when your soul disconnects from the body to be suspended in Notime. Notime is a fearsome realm, you all know that Tartarus is made out of "or located in Notime. At first your body will be in a coma. For about a year, the exact length depending on your resistance against the Styx poison. Then you will walk soulless for nine more years when your spirit is slowly working itself back from the Notime and into your physical body. More and more will you remember, starting with a painful realisation that you once held something wonderful, which now is lost. The life of an immortal, hardly remembered, but painfully missed! "

"Not until these ten long years are over will you be able to return to Olympos and the Immortal Nation. Not until then will your memories be fully restored and the symptoms of the poison completely gone. Think this over before you consider a lie. Now, drink, and then tell me what happened two nights ago. "

Hesitant Euphrosyne rose the glass and then she squeezed her eyes tightly together and downed the drink. After that she began:  
"It was as I said before. He took me against my will. He raped me. "  
"Who did that?" Zeus urged.  
"Boreas", Euphrosyne said with trembling lips, glancing slightly at the god standing next to her. "Boreas, god of the North Wind – he raped me. Then she sniffed twice and added: I did not lie, Zeus. Am I free to go now?"  
"Just a moment, I want to hear what Boreas has to say. "

"I won't drink this", the blond god stated. "But I confess guilt. I did force myself upon this goddess. I don't know why now. It was... I guess I was drunk. Didn't know what I was doing. I'd seen... I knew that Notus would get laid that night and I guess I wanted it too. I will take my punishment for this. But please don't have me drinking the Styx water. "

"No need for that now", Zeus said. Hermes can bring back the leftovers to where it comes from. I don't want to keep such dangerous matter here at Olympos.  
"I will," Hermes bowed slightly and removed Boreas' lead cup, emptying the untouched content back into the amphora.  
"What will be your verdict, Great Zeus?" Hera asked. She had been sitting silent in her throne up until now.

"This is my verdict", Zeus started. "Boreas, you will be banned from Olympos for ten years. You are to go to Hyperborea and live out those ten years as slightly more than a mortal man. There's a canal being built in the land of Thule. It has come to a halt because of the lack of labour. Take work in the venture as a mortal construction worker, digging out the ground! You may use some immortal strength to help getting the work done. But in the meantime no other divine powers will be used. And you will live out those years in celibacy too. This is necessary for you to think over how the sexual life ought to be performed. "

"I accept that punishment", Boreas whispered, knowing that there was no other way out.  
"Hermes," Zeus turned to the messenger. "You'll escort Boreas to the canal in Thule before you return the Water of Styx to its source. This session is concluded. "

¤-¤-¤

Later Ariadne learned that Boreas had tried to escape, which had made Hermes dropping the amphora with the perilous water. The amphora had feel down to Earth and broken, which lead to the creation of a great chasm from with lava and magma had appeared, and hundreds of mortals had perished in the earthquakes following the creation of the chasm and the new volcanoes. This has led to another two years being added to Boreas' punishment, and even more awareness of what fearful powers the Water of Styx contained.

"And you felt no effect?" Ariadne could not help asking Euphrosyne.  
"None," the Grace shook her head, auburn curls bobbing. Except for being scared beyond my wits.  
"You told the truth," Athena said. "This neutralizes the poison. Now cheer up, Euph, you were brave in there. Everybody is admiring your courage."  
"You do?" Euphrosyne smiled weakly.

"Yeah, and you can need some real quality beverage after this," Ariadne pointed out. "Come, let's go find what my husband is keeping in the storeroom. "


	31. Athena's youth

**Athena's youth **

"I think I'm a little tipsy", Athena laughed and looked at the stain of wine she had just spilled on her snow white dress.  
"You're sure not the only one" Euphrosyne returned and chuckled. She was lying with her hands above her head on the sofa, one leg over the back and the other down to the floor, and her brown eyes were simming. "I think if I have just another cup of whine I'm gonna... gonna.... "

Then her lids fell closed, her moth opened up and a faint snoring sound was heard.  
"I think the Grace did have one cup too much", Ariadne said and reached behind her, taking out an orange woollen blanket. Athena in turn arranged Euphrosyne's legs in a bit more decent and comfortable position before Ariadne spread the blanket over her.  
"How about you, Athena? You're tired? If you want to sleep over there's always guestrooms ready. "

"I'm not really that tired", the goddess of wisdom said. "In fact I'm more like – hungry. I always get hungry when I drink wine. "  
"Then let's see what we can find in the kitchen. I think the nymphs are asleep now, no need waking them up, I know my way around there quite well these days. "

¤-¤-¤

"So Artemis told you about Orion?" Athena said before biting in on her second sandwich.  
"She did. Two years ago. As a birthday gift. I wanted to know why she never loved. In fact I've been wondering about that with you too."  
"It's not like Artie", Athena said. "I guess I'm just picky. I'm still waiting for the real thing, the stuff Aphrodite is talking about, when you feel like something has twisted your head 180 degrees. And since I'm immortal I'm willing to wait. I've tasted sex, mostly out of curiosity. Overrated I found it, no matter that Priapos had a large – well thing. Or that Helios was tender and sweet. Wouldn't call it love though. "

"So all this virgin goddess talk was just..."  
"Mortal tales", Athena returned. "But it's nothing like what they cooked up when it came to my origin. Born out of Zeus' forehead, I mean give me a break! We're not amoebas! On the other hand my youth is a bit of an enigma for most people I admit. And I was grown up when I returned to Olympos for the first time since infancy."

¤*¤*¤ _Athena's tale_ ¤*¤*¤

When Zeus betrayed my mother Metis with the goddess Themis poor mama was so devastated that she took me and left, first for Crete where Zeus' mother Rhea dwelled and then further on to Tritonis where a god with the same name lives. An old friend of hers. I guess she could have returned to her father Oceanos if she liked, but she was probably too proud.

I remember very little of my infancy at Olympos, mostly sun shining trough stained glass. Of Crete I remember slightly more, flowers in the garden of Rhea and cute goats. But my childhood in Tritonis was happy, carefree and wonderful. And endless row of sunny days and gleaming dessert sand and evenings in the library with fantastic reads. My mother loved me very much. She took care of my upbringing and opened my eyes for books and knowledge, inspired my curiosity and challenged me to seek knowledge in books as well as from the world outside.

And the god Tritonis taught me to become a warrior. He belonged to those who still feared a Titan uprising against the New Divine Order. And his idea was that all gods and goddesses should be able to take up the sword and go into battle to defend that Order. So he taught me and his own daughter Pallas everything he knew in that area.

Pallas was my best friend back then. We shared every secret the way young girls do. We rode off in the night on pretended adventures, fought imaginary villains and monsters and discovered hidden treasures. And we swore to always be together. We swore that wherever we went we would go together, even if that meant to the end of the world or into magic realms beyond. But just as an accident stole Orion from Artemis my friend was ripped from life too young.

Tritonis had just begun to teach us about adamantine blades and the special art of fighting with those. Pallas and I were eager to learn more, and when he told us class was over we sneaked away after dinner and practiced on our own behind the house. Little did I know what powers I had, how naturally I connected to the magic metal. Little did I know how lethal the blade would become in my hands, even risen against another immortal. And little did I know how caught up in the duel we became. Not until a scream passed over Pallas' cherry lips when my blade sunk deep into her armpit.

I tried in vain to save her, to reach her soul before it was disconnected from her body forever. But Triton's angry fists when he pulled me off the dying girl distracted me, his roar when he threw me into the wall sounded like any monster I could imagine, and I lost my grip on the thin silver thread that still held Pallas' soul to her body.

The next moment he was trying to strangle me, and I heard my mother come running over the courtyard pleading with him to let go of me. Then a clap of thunder and a flash of lightning and Tritonis lay unconscious on the flagstone ground beside the wall. The air reeked of ozone. My father Zeus had saved me – for the time being.

"You must flee, Athena", mother urged. "He'll come after you. But if you go to Olympos, seek entrance in your fathers court you'll be safe. "  
"I could have saved her. I know I could. The reverse process..."  
"I know, Athena. I know you could. But you must hurry, before Triton awakes. "  
"How about you, mother? What will..."  
"I'll be all right. Now come and pack your things! "

I had obeyed my mother in the sense of packing my bags and leaving the Tritonis area. But I did not go to Olympos immediately. Honestly to say, the notion of the divine court scared me back then, and on top of that I was looking for adventures. So instead I ventured east trough the endless desserts, followed nomadic tribes from oasis to beautiful oasis, learned to tend camels and find water where the earth is seemingly dry. And eventually I reached Aegyptos.

It was there I met Thot for the first time. I know that most people believe that our relation is nothing but a heartily friendship, and today it's more or less the truth. But what we did in the library that day Boreas' rape was being investigated was not only looking trough books, we were reviving old memories of youthful innocence.

I encountered Thot on the shores of the Nile, and from the first time I laid my eyes on him I knew that he was someone extraordinary. He wasn't overly attractive or smart looking, but he had that special something that made me look twice. And he more or less cornered me, had me show feelings I hadn't know existed until then. My mother had never told me about love and passion, since she feared it after her disaster with dad. So the feelings exploding inside of me, the hormones taking control had me terrified and intrigued at the same time.

But I also remember the strange sensation afterwards. The mood when Thot had fallen asleep among the sweaty sheets and I sat watching the moonlight wondering "do I really want this?" I understood people who lost their minds over this. And I understood how betrayed my mother must have felt after what Zeus did to her. When he gave her all that magic and then took it away from her. I knew now why she had left Olympos. She had been hurt more than any adamantine blade could harm. Something had died inside of her, something not attached to the body by a retrievable silver thread. And I feared of being victimized the same way.

Feeling shy and strange I gathered my clothes and sneaked away in the velvet night where winking stars were mocking my departure. What I didn't know about was the trace I left behind. People who have made love leave imprints on each other. Imprints that take quite some time to wear off. It was those imprints Thot was feeling in his soul and which made it possible for him to catch up on me, halfway to the Red Sea.  
"I know you are confused, Athena, he said. Confused and perhaps afraid. You are young and a new arrival in the lush gardens of love. But believe me when I say I mean you no harm. "

"Thot, I do not want to do this anymore. I don't want to lose control like I did in there. I fear what will become of me then. "  
"Does it scare you so much?"  
"Please, don't ask more! And no offence, it's nothing personal. I am just afraid of what's happening to me.

"I promise to not push it then, Athena. I'll wait for you, let you take the next step when you are ready."  
"You might have to wait a long time then."

"That does not matter. Because if we are not meant to be, we will know that soon enough anyway. But come back with me now. The dessert is not a pleasant place to sleep in even for a goddess. The beds of my palace are much softer, much warmer when the dessert night pushes on and it gets cold. And you don't have to share mine.  
"It's not like I don't know dessert nights and know in my spine when I have to shield from the cold. But your hospitality moves me, I'll come back with you, Thot."

So I stayed in Aegyptos for more than two years, spending time with Thot and learning everything about their culture. And we did make more love, yet not as often as I knew Thot would have wanted to. In the end my restless soul wanted to move on, and I could not convince Thot to follow me, so I left on my own, travelled across another dessert and up north by the coast of the Mediterranean. There I became witness to the fight between Yahweh and Lucifer.

Thot had warned me against these gods. Tribal immortals who were too young to have fought in the Titan wars but old enough to hold aspiration for domination over larger territories. Apparently they had been allies earlier, but that was to drive off a common enemy, Lilith. And when Lilith was gone Yahweh had turned against Lucifer instead, and now they were battling above the barren desserts. They both let off tremendous amounts of energy, shaking the world as they clashed. And they both fought with the help of winged beings, semi-immortals with superhuman powers who battled in the sky so it felt like the stars were going to fall down.

I watched it all from afar, noted that there were a lot of power let loose, but not so much strategies and skills being deployed. The battle hung in balance for days and days and I know that had I involved myself on either side I could have helped that god to win. But since I knew nothing about them I felt it better to stay outside. None of them seemed particularly benevolent to this eighteen year old spectator anyway. And just as I was beginning to tire and felt like moving on Yahweh gained an upper hand and managed to incapacitate his adversary.

Next thing he was ripping up reality the way mother had told me Zeus had done against Chronos, and then this Canaan god disposed of Lucifer the same way Zeus had got rid of Chronos. If Lucifer ended up as far down as in Tartarus was more than I knew but the whole process scared me. I didn't want to be in the vicinity if this Yahweh started looking around for more divine energies and considered me an enemy too. Perhaps I could have defeated him in a honest fight but I knew nothing about ripping the reality apart. Better not linger.

Thus I found myself on the way north. There I encountered more immortals. Benign ones this time. Ishtar, Astarte and Inanna, posh ladies with a lot of followers. They were competing too, but in quite a different way. Their weapon were called lust and infatuation, and they were gathering followers around them with the help of large fertility fiestas where no one was to leave unpleased. But even if they were nice and welcoming me I didn't really feel athome. I found their way dull and way more dreadful than a honest battle. They used mortals and took advantage of their desires and devices in a most repulsive way, and in the end they left just as many wreckages as a war might.

"Can't you see you're harming them?" I asked Inanna one night after the last great orgy.  
"But they enjoy it", the goddess replied and served me sweet ambrosia cakes with cream whipped from cow milk.  
"Now they might, but not after a while. They become worn out by all this drinking, dancing and love making, and too tired and ill to perform a decent day work. In the end they will forget to plant their fields and tend their animals, and then what good will your fertility blessings do?"

"It's our way, Athena. We don't do war like those gods down south. We let the people choose, to come to the goddess who gives them the most. "  
"But give them knowledge instead of lust, I suggested. Tempt them with inspiration, not infatuation. Teach them to sate themselves with the pride of a hard days work! Soon the people of Yahweh will be at your city gates, urged by their power-hungry god. And if your people are tired and weak after endless partying they will not stand against the invaders. Train them to defend their city instead, and eventually you will win over the people of Ishtar and Astarte. They will come to your town when they see that safety is to be found here. "

"But I know nothing about war. I find such knowledge contra productive and despicable. "  
"Yet it is necessary. If you want to defend your city and its people it's necessary to know at least the basics. "  
"Do you know these things then, young girl?"  
"I do. Let me stay here for a while and teach you my ways. You won't regret it."

Inanna seemed to think this over for a while, then she nodded:  
"I have nothing to loose save for perhaps a few boring years. But if my people abandon me, out of the lack of entertainment and go to one of the others I'll stop this experiment immediately, you hear me."  
"Trust me, Inanna, you won't regret it. You might loose a few, but you'll get more back when the going gets tough in the neighbourhood. "

I was right of course, save for that it wasn't Yahweh who came against Inanna, but another dessert god: Baal. He was whipping his soldiers in front of him like a maddened deamon, and hadn't we been preparing Inanna's city for an attack it would have been lost. Now it was held siege for several years, and when it was over the whole society was changed. Gone were the orgies and the praising of endless lust. And gone was also the enmity between Inanna, Astarte and Ishtar. Now they were willing to cooperate instead.

Of course they were begging me to stay, but I felt the adventure starting to sing in my blood again, and said my goodbyes. I had a certain feeling I was westbound, that I was to follow the setting sun alongside the mountainous coastline in the north.  
"That place is littered with beasts, Inanna warned me. Dragons and trolls, lingering Titans. Mutated monsters with several arms and eyes. "  
"Those do not scare me, I told. I fear more being stuck in a place where my job is done. I need to move on."

They tried a bit more to convince me to stay, promised me that we were going to invite eastern gods to be our consorts, but that wasn't the least tempting. So they held one last party in my honor, a fare-well party to Athena of the Defence and High City Walls, and in the gray morning the day after I left with my few belongings in a backpack, and filled with excitement again. I longed for campfires, sleeping beneath the stars and not knowing what the next day had in store for me.

Yet something had changed, I felt it as I travelled along. I fought beasts and defeated bandit gangs along the way and a handful of times I stayed in small villages and helped them defend themselves against one villain or another. But as the weeks and the months travelled on the miracles of a sunrise over mountains or game with ripe berries to eat were slowly loing their appeal. I was beginning to feel lonely. I longed for companions. Real friends. And a place to put down my sack, not only for staying but for living. I desired a home again. A family. A larger context.

At a time I thought of returning to Thot. Then I considered finding my mother who had left Tritonis to travel westwards, in search of the waste continent that was said to exist beyond the Ocean of Sunsets. Or I could go to my father's house. To Olympos. I wasn't sure if I would be welcome there, but at least I could give it a try. And if the mighty Zeus proved not interested in a vagabond daughter with sand in her boots and swords on her back, I knew there was still my mother to be found somewhere out there.


	32. Athena arrives at Olympos

**Athena arrives at Olympos **

It had sounded like such a good plan, before crossing the Bosporus. Go to Olympos, seek entrance! Ask for Zeus, tell you are Metis' daughter! And in extension his. Yet now I was standing beneath that very mountaintop and I wasn't so confident anymore. Looking at those imposing mountain sides and the impressive palaces up there I was far from certain that this was such a clever idea at all. What would I say, how should I introduce myself? I was sure that Zeus had a million daughters by now. Noble court ladies leading indoors lives like spoiled princesses, content with handicraft and dice games. What if he told me to dash off? After all I would remind him of a woman he had tired of and sent away when he wanted someone more "refined". Someone who wasn't the daughter of a titan, even though that titan had been an allied of Zeus instead of Chronos.

" Bad excuses, Athena", I told myself. "You've just having a pang of stage-fright. You might feel out of place when seeing those palaces, but less than a year ago you lived in Inanna's palace. And before those years you dwelled at Thot's place. You walked like a daughter in the House of Amon, in his magnificent halls and gardens. No one questioned your presence there. Why would they do so at Olympos? "  
" But Olympos is The High Court. The Court of the Divine King, that's different", a little annoying voice was saying behind my ears.

In reply I took out my iron sword, and swung it against a tree trunk, burying it deep in the wood, letting off some anger.  
"But he's my father of blood," I snarled to that stupid, doubtful part of me. "He ought to acknowledge me at least. If he tells me to leave, what have I really lost? I would be back right where I am now, and with only one aim, finding Metis again. My mother."

¤*¤*¤

Next thing I was standing outside gates of gold, smitten in delicate patterns, and with inlaid crystals which shone off in clear primary colours, painting rainbow patterns on the snowy ground. I was talking to the guard, a stocky man with an eye patch, and twice as tall as I, carrying a crested helmet and a spear tipped in shining, blue adamantine.  
" I am a daughter of Great Zeus," I told the guard. "My name is Athena. "  
" I know of no such", the guard replied, showing no sign of wanting to open the gate.

" Yet I am, and I seek audience with the king. I have travelled far. All the way from Tritonia. "  
" I wouldn't care if you came from Hades itself. The king receives no one today, especially not rag-tag mercenaries who claim to be family.  
" Will you carry him a message then?"  
" No. "  
" What?"  
" I said no, I won't do that. Or I wouldn't be doing anything else. I'm not a messenger boy."

I was starting to become frustrated in spite of knowing I had no rights at all in this place. But I clenched my fists and between my teeth I asked:  
" Get me a messenger then! "  
" Not my job."  
" But tell me at least how I get in touch with the King. Or should I do this against protocol, should I break down those beautiful but rather fragile gates, pierce you on my adamantine blade and walk right in there?"

Oddly enough I saw the guards one eye widen a bit. It surely couldn't have been the first time he had heard such threats. Or was it the way I said it?  
" You can't have adamantine, he protested. The use of that metal is restricted..."

In response I drew my blade, and took a warriors stance. The blue metal was shining like being sunlit in spite of the hazy, almost overcast sky, and the guard became visibly scared, taking two steps back.  
" Now you open that door, I commanded. I will speak to the King. And I will do that with or without your consent, and I warn you, adamantine for lunch is not the tastiest dish. Your call! "

The guard had almost let go of his bladder, I could have sworn he wasn't prepared for a real threat, that he was relying on that stumpy adamantine spear-tip and the very executive power of the Olympos court. But now he began to cry intruder as I crossed the boundaries to the Olympos area, and flew across beautiful gardens up to an impressive, yet half"finished palace up on a hill. That was the Palace of Zeus, I didn't need anyone to tell me that. I almost hesitated, fearing the worse of welcoming, and suddenly regretting that I had crashed the gates instead of finding out the right protocol for communicating with the Divine King.

¤*¤*¤

" What's this hubbub about?" Zeus rose from behind his desk as the scared page came trough the doors to his office, interrupting a meeting with Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Leto.  
" An intruder!"  
" An intruder? Here at Olympos? How... What kind of intruder?"  
" Some warrior goddess. With an adamantine sword."  
" And the guards couldn't stop her?"  
" No, she's coming here now. "  
" What does she want?"  
" I don't know." the page's voice sounded almost like a whisper against Zeus' booming tone.

" Probably just a trouble-maker", Poseidon said.  
" Well, I'll go have a look", Zeus decided.  
" Be careful", Demeter warned but the King hardly heard her.

¤*¤*¤

I saw him exiting the large double doors as I landed on the shining tiles in front of the large palace. That was Zeus himself, King of all gods and also my father of blood. No doubt about it! He was magnificent to behold, tall, regal and with a handsome yet stern face, his sapphire eyes seemed to look right into my soul, reading every secret I had. And he didn't come alone, first came three women, each of them a stunning beauty and then a large, dark man who sort of scared me.

" Lord Zeus!" I kneeled on the ground, removed my helmet, laid my weapon and packings on the ground and tried not to shiver.  
" Rise goddess!" the towering form in front of me commanded. "Rise, and tell me with which right you threaten my guards and crash the gates to Olympos. "  
" I just wish to salute my father, I said and rose. I am sorry for scaring your guard, great King, but 24 years is a long time to wait for a young girl who has never known her father save for in infancy. I have travelled trough half of the world to get here and pay him due respect. Such I am sorry if my patience wore out with a unlistening cyclope guard. "

I met his looks, Zeus showed no emotion when he asked:  
" Who told you your father was to be found here? "  
" My mother did. She is Lady Metis, daughter of Oceanos of Setting Sun. "  
" And you are gifted like her indeed, Athena. Clever and brave. You sure didn't think I've forgotten you, little girl! "

Next thing I knew he had taken me in his arms and embraced me until I thought my ribs were going to crack. His hug opened up something inside of me, and I started to cry for the first time in years and years. Those tears that should have been wept for poor Pallas came then as well as tears of accumulated loneliness, as I had walked and flown across this endless world.  
" Brighteyed one, don't cry! You are home now. It's all right, don't cry! "  
" You mean... I can stay? In spite of..."  
" Of course you can! This place has always been your home. There has always been a corner in my heart for you, a place waiting for you to return. My Athena, I have missed you for so long. "

Next thing there were people all around me and Zeus. People with questions.  
" Metis' daughter?"  
" Who? "  
" Why?"  
" Athena, you said?"  
" Why is she dressed like that? "

" Fully grown and clad in arms, yeah", Zeus said, still embracing me. "I've suddenly got a grown up daughter! Now that headache doesn't feel half as bad anymore. "  
" What headache", the down-to-earth-looking woman to the right of me said.  
" The headache of a lot of little things not working the way they should of course. Demeter, we were going to... but today I've got a wonderful surprise, so I think we can postpone that. War"making eastern godlings, plagues, strikes and sea"pirates can as well wait another day. I've just got my wonderful child back. "

" Where did she come from, daddy?" a blond boy was saying. He was in his pree-teens and carried a lyre.  
" She cracked up the head gates", another child said. A girl as dark-haired as the boy was blond but otherwise very similar in looks.  
" She cracked up daddy in the head you mean", the boy replied.  
" No, that was Hephaestos who did, stupid. With his toy hammer, the ugly spunk!"  
" Oh, stop it, twins!" an elegant looking lady told the youths in a way that made it obvious she was their mother. "And you don't talk about your little brother that way, Artemis!"  
" Did you make her up, dad?" the blond boy asked.

" File your in-jokes for now, children, Zeus said. There are introductions to be done and..."  
" Heph did hit you," the girl pointed out.  
" Yeah, but so did you when you was one and didn't want to take your nap. Now let's drop it. This is Athena," Zeus said. "A daughter who have been lost for me for so many years but who has finally returned home. "

Then he started to point out the gods and goddesses around me:  
" The twins are your sister and brother, Apollo and Artemis, their mother is the woman with the short, dark hair, Leto. Then here's my beloved wife Hera, Demeter, Helios, Poseidon, young Ares, seven years old, Selene..."

¤*¤*¤

I was home! That night I slept in a soft bed in a large, airy room. A bit sterile and dull I had to admit, but Hera who had followed me and my assigned nymphs up there had told me that it was up to me to decorate it the way I desired. She seemed nice, dad's wife. Not the most motherly type, but kind and reliable. I knew we would become friends. Demeter seemed lovely and Leto a bit with her guard up. Poseidon, the dark man, wasn't half as spooky as he had seemed. And the children, my sister and brothers, were full of happy go lucky energy and wicked humour. Little Ares had been awed by my arms and had wanted to have a closer look at them and Apollo and Artemis had been bombarding me with questions.

And most of all – there was my dad. He had welcomed me in every way, and if I ever had held doubts they were gone by now. I was home after the longest imaginable trip. The only thing left to do was tracing my mother and letting her know that I hade made it to Olympos and that I was fine.

¤*¤*¤

" So you see, Ariadne, we both came here as strangers but were welcomed with open arms. I've seen it in you as I knew it from myself how the self-confidence grows when you are among people who love you."  
" And then you stayed here?" Ariadne asked Athena. Never went back to Thot?  
" I went to visit, but then he had taken himself another girl. And I went on adventures, all over the world, even far west where my Mother had gone. But it wasn't the same thing because now I had a home. A place to return to and rest. I had a warm bed waiting, a fireplace to sit and read by, a large library where I could put all the scrolls and books I soon started to collect. And most of all I had a family, people to be with and talk to. To share things with. And that's really the most important thing in life," the goddess of wisdom finished.

" So you're sitting here", a familiar voice was heard behind Ariadne. "I wondered what kept you from bed, love."  
" Athena's been telling the story of her life, Dion."  
" Well, only the first 24 years," Athena filled in.  
" And about the rest 873? "  
" 837 years. And that's for another time. Or some other times, it's quite a lot," Athena smiled.  
" But I liked the last part best," Ariadne said. "About the importance of family. "

" So true", Dionysos said and took Ariadne in his arms. "Show Athena the guest room, she looks tired and I need your cuddles tonight. "


	33. Olympos for Beginners

**33 Olympos for beginners**

_  
Psyche's awake now_ Zeus mindspoke Ariadne and she put down her reading: _I'm on my way_.

Swiftly she flew across the green lawns of Olympos and descended at the third floor terrace at the shining Palace of Zeus. The large glass doors were open, allowing the wind to toy with the gold-threaded indigo silk curtains. But magic was used to held an abandoned card deck in place at the marble table. Hermes was probably the one who had left the solitaire behind, because it reeked of cheating.

Ariadne shrugged and went inside following the familiar auras downstairs a floor. There, in the long corridor, the nymph Narita came out to greet her:  
"This way milady", the red-headed servant bowed and opened up a door to one of the guest rooms. Ariadne passed by Narita and entered the cool chamber, adjusting her eyes to the sudden darkness. There in a bed lied a sweet"faced girl with raven black curls and kind, slightly scared sky"blue eyes.

Psyche, beloved of Aphrodite's son Eros, had just undergone the immortality process – just like Ariadne herself 84 years ago. The transformation had left her a bit fragile and tired in her body as well as in her soul, temporary weaknesses that would fade as soon as she rested and adjusted.

"Good morning, Psyche", Ariadne said in spite of it being almost noon." I'm Ariadne, wife of Dionysos. I was once immortalized the way you have been during those recent weeks. I'm going to be your mentor into this new world, there are so many things to see and learn. "  
"Yes, Lord Zeus told me about you." Psyche smiled. "He said you were very kind and I had nothing to worry about being with you, lady. "  
" You can call me Ariadne. We're quite informal up here, as you soon will learn. Is Eros on his way? "

"He's working. Lord Zeus told me that he would not be around for another week. I was up a bit earlier than the Great Lord had expected."  
"Good to hear that, Psyche. And I think you can skip that 'lord' part. Around here he's Zeus, nothing else. It gets much easier that way. Have you been given some nectar?"  
"Yeah, but it made me all giddy and confused, so I never finished the glass."  
"Do so, it'll help you regain your strength. Then let's get over to your new home and make it in order. Did you bring anything with you here?"

At that question Psyche began to laugh. "  
"Are you kidding? I'm quite the squirrel. Sixty bags and boxes all in all were brought up to Eros' upon my arrival"  
"Then you were quite different from me, I had nothing when I came here save for a shawl and a pair of earrings."  
"Why?"  
"I ran away from home, and then I became ship"wrecked. I'll tell you later. Now, finish your nectar! Then, are you ready to come, you think? "  
"I will try, Lady!"  
"Ariadne it is."  
" Oh, I will have to remember that." Psyche smiled and drank from the high glass.

Then she swung her legs out of the bed, and almost tipping over, misjudging her returning strength. Ariadne had to steady her and Psyche blushed and giggled.  
"I'm a bit… I feel strange."  
"That's only normal."  
"Feeling strange is normal?"  
"No, I meant, ah, forget it! "

" Wow!" Psyche stopped dead as they came out on the second floor terrace. First Ariadne couldn't see anything wow – it looked just as a normal day in early May, the sun shining over the green poppy"dotted meadows and glittered in the Singing River a mile away. At the Stadium centaurs were warming up for tomorrows races and in the air to the right some of the children were playing a ball game. There were her and Dion's youngest, Nelion as well as Aphrodite's son Anteros, Zeus and Hera's young twins Akanei and Zakahios and a couple of children of Poseidon.

Then Ariadne grasped what Psyche was seeing. This was the first time she was seeing Olympos in all its glory and with the eyes of an immortal. This was the first time she was seeing the colours only immortals saw, the distant objects mortals couldn't make out and on top of that flying children and running centaurs. Not to mentioning the shining Eos landing her pink chariot in front of the palace.

"I was awed too, when I first saw all this", Ariadne told, while regarding Eos jumping out of her chariot and running up the stairs, hardly bothering with exchanging a word with the nymphs who took care of her ride.  
"It's so magnificent, and it's so ripe, so full, so much more than what I could see before, when Eros brought me up here. "  
"I know. It's a lot to see and to take in and understand. How about a soft start? I'll come with you to your place and see if the nymphs have started unpacking your things and then we can go over the Arena and see the centaurs run, and perhaps have lunch there. How about it?"

"Are the centaurs… scary?"  
"Well, they are big and fast, but most of them are nice guys, even if politeness seldom is their thing and their use of language sometimes makes a modest lady blush."  
"I've never seen one in my entire life before, I hardly thought they existed. "  
"Hah, don't tell them that!

"Ariadne, can I ask you of one thing", Psyche said, shyly looking down at the gold-inlaid marble of the terrace floor.  
"Go ahead!"  
"I am… I am to see my mother in law to be tonight. Lady Aphrodite."  
"Yes."  
"And I'm a bit… nervous. She and I… we never got along when I was down there, she threatened me to… she wanted me to fall in love with the ugliest man around. And I… Can you perhaps come with me tonight? When I go there."

"Of course I can. I know how important it is with support the first days – and even weeks here. And don't say I told you, but Aphrodite too was scared when she came here the very first time. "  
"She was? Really!"  
"Really. She felt quite intimated by all the gods wanting her. But it's our secret, Psyche!"

Smiling the two goddesses hugged as a comfirmation of new friendship.

Reaching Eros and Psyches little villa located north of Demeter's gardens Ariadne looked around. There were three newly assigned nymphs: Kala, Avenita and Lozza, all of them greeting their new lady Psyche and there were the young goddess' plethora of things being put in order.  
"All to your pleasing I hope", Kala bowed to Psyche.

The goddess merely nodded, she was still in a bit of shock and reached for Ariadne's hand. Ariadne took it and walked with her in trough the portico and into an inner courtyard where crimson roses were blooming and a fountain singing. Terrace doors were opened to what was to become Psyche's dressing room and working studio, and in there lesser nymphs were preparing the chambers.

"Psyche", Ariadne said and indicated a brand new ebony desk with a chair in the studio. "See that reading"scroll book on the desk?"  
"Yeah?"  
"It's a little essay I've prepared for you to read, perhaps tonight before you go to bed. "  
"What is it?"  
"It's some insights and good need-to-knows about this place and its inhibitors. Some things I've started to put down when I came here, including parts of my diary the first year. I'm calling it 'Olympos for beginners'."


End file.
